Deaf graduate, Fezeka Zeka’s fees gets settled after publishing a story about her plight. Graduate, Fezeka Zeka All pictures supplied.
Fezeka Zeka owed R276 344 fees to DUT and was unable to obtain her academic transcript before an interview about her plight.
Zeka (27), who lost her hearing when she was three years old, holds a Diploma in Fine Arts.
She said her determination to succeed, in the face of the significant challenges she encountered in trying to obtain an education, played a significant role in her accomplishment.
Zeka said she was disheartened that she was unable to fulfil her dream of becoming an art teacher for Deaf students, as the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) had not settled her fees.
This prevented her from obtaining her certificate and a transcript for her qualification.
After the story about her dilemma was published in November 2022, Zeka was inundated with emails from individuals and organisations volunteering to settle her outstanding fees.
Caption: DUT graduate, Fezeka Zeka is thankful to Absa for settling her fees Picture: Supplied
Absa was among the organisations that volunteered to pay what she owed. DUT’s senior director of corporate affairs Alan Khan said the university’s finance team was in constant contact with NSFAS to recover the student’ outstanding fees. Khan said Zeka’s account was settled by Absa in December 2022.
Khan said DUT’s financial aid unit had secured funding for Zeka in the form of an Absa bursary. “The university would like to extend its immense gratitude to Absa for assisting Ms Zeka to settle her outstanding fees and for helping her receive her qualification. “DUT wishes Ms Zeka continued success in the years ahead.”
Zeka said: “Where would I have got all this money from? My gratitude goes to Absa, the journalist and DUT. I want to say that I’m very grateful to them for helping me improve my life and achieve my goals because, honestly, this issue was affecting me even physically.”
Caption: DUT graduate, Fezeka Zeka is thankful to Absa for settling her fees Picture: Supplied
“I can now feel that I’m slowly going back to who I was. My pride and confidence are coming back. I am positive about everything now, [whereas, before, I] was a very hopeless child.
I will work very hard for every opportunity I get in life because what you did for me is huge.”
An elated Zeka said she finally obtained her qualification certificate and academic transcript.
“My plans are to go back to university for a postgraduate qualification because I feel that my current qualification is not good enough. [Further qualifications will mean I] get more chances of getting out of unemployment. I believe that I need to push a little bit more.”
Asked whether there were students at DUT who were facing the same financial challenges that Zeka did, Khan said: “Unfortunately, there are many students who are waiting for NSFAS to settle their fees.”
Training Force, the organisation that acted as a mediator between Absa and Zeka, had not responded to enquiries by the time of going to print. The NSFAS was also not forthcoming with a response to enquiries.
Zeka said, “Oh, where would I have gotten all this money from. My gratitude to you, Absa, and DUT. I want to say I’m very grateful to them for helping me to improve my life and achieving my goals because honestly this issue was affecting me even physically. I can now feel that I’m slowly going back to who I was. My self-pride and confidence are coming back. I am positive about everything now [whereas, before, I] was a very hopeless child. To Absa, I promise that I will work very hard for every opportunity I get in life because what you did for me is huge.”
“The university would like to extend its immense gratitude to Absa for assisting Ms Zeka to settle her outstanding fees and for helping her to receive her qualification. DUT wishes Ms Zeka continued success in the years ahead,” said Khan.
This article was first published in the City Press on 20 November 2022. Author, Vicky Abraham is a former freelance journalist for City Press.
