Multilingual (Xitsonga, Sepedi, isiZulu, English and Tshivenda) Hitekani Marhanele comes from a
small rural town that experienced such a shortage of healthcare staff that it was normal to spend the
entire day waiting to be seen by a doctor at the local hospital and clinic. As a small child, all she
wanted was to be the person in the white coat who made people better.
Despite this early ambition, she started studying chemical engineering after matriculating. But, one
week in, she realised that it wasn’t for her. Since it was too late to get a place to study medicine, she
switched to BSc and later became the first person in her family to achieve a university degree. After
graduating, she was accepted at SMU to study medicine.
The oldest of four siblings, she says her family has always been supportive and encouraging of her.
Her current studies also benefit from her experience of having already completed a degree as she
has learned to manage her time well and resist the distractions of campus social life. She has grown
in confidence over the years and can now see herself in the future role of a consultant gynaecologist
in obstetrics.
Hitekani says: “I’m passionate about what is happening in women’s bodies, especially the high rate
of miscarriage and neonatal death in poor rural areas. I want to be part of bringing changes and
doing more research on these problems.”
She says SMU helped her to understand how valuable a multidisciplinary approach was in providing
optimum care beyond the physical health aspect to include the mental and social health of the
patient. “Being taught by the best clinicians and having extra classes contributed a lot to my
academic success,” she says.
After being exposed to clinical practice, which happens from the first year at SMU, she is even more
committed to go home to serve the rural community once she has qualified.
She enjoys the idea of being a caretaker of humanity. “Patients come to us, we patch them up and
send them out to have the best and happiest lives they can. They’ll forget my name and it’s okay.
Because it’s not about us as individual doctors, it’s about us as a people, as a collective species,” she
says. “So for me, passing with distinctions… reading more, is important because when I’m serving
the community, I want to give them my all to the best of my knowledge.” 
Hitekani appreciates the support of the Professor MCM Modiba Scholarship Fund, especially as
NSFAS does not fund second degrees. The Scholarship gave her the peace of mind to be able to
focus completely on her studies. Because of her positive experience, she hopes to help fund future
student scholarships by donating to the Fund once she’s working.

Jason Chris Bill is from Tzaneen in Limpopo, the youngest of four siblings. During matric at Merensky
High, he job shadowed at the local hospital and felt his calling when he was allowed to watch a small
surgical procedure. He registered for his MBChB at SMU in 2018, the first person in his extended
family to pursue a career in medicine. He says his experiences at medical school made him realise
that LGBTQ+ patients experience barriers in accessing adequate healthcare due to a lack of skills and
specific knowledge and the heterosexist attitudes of some healthcare providers.
Jason, who identifies as queer, says: “This ignited a fire in me to inspire change. My long-term goal is
to qualify as a psychiatrist so I can create programs and courses that will equip medical students
with the specific knowledge and skills to provide adequate comprehensive healthcare services to
LGBTQ+ individuals, and to be comfortable and prepared to treat queer patients.”
Jason has lately also begun to consider opting for a surgical speciality instead.
Jason says he lives by a motto attributed to Socrates, who said: ‘The secret of change is to focus all
of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new’. Thus, even after losing his NSFAS
funding in his third year because he could no longer meet the funding requirements, he was more
determined than ever to, as he put it, “be part of a team of heroes that heal people and save lives.”
Jason has nothing but praise for SMU, singling out the dedication and commitment of Professors
Zach Koto, Pindile Mntla and Dikeledi Mokone. Their example has inspired him to aim higher than
merely completing his MBChB. He feels strongly, however, that SMU should complement its
excellent teaching with “programmes aimed at supporting students grappling with psychosocial
challenges and extending them a compassionate approach”.
He says studying was psychologically the hardest thing he had ever done. At times, he felt
overwhelmed by the workload and the constant worry over finances and the cost of equipment like
stethoscopes and textbooks. Being awarded the Scholarship in year four came as a huge relief.
Now he looks forward to taking his place in the public health care system, building relationships with
patients and helping them to better understand their illnesses.

Kekana chose to study at SMU despite being accepted at Wits University to study engineering. Until he
was awarded the scholarship, funding was a constant challenge.
“I had merit sponsorship from the university in the first year, no sponsorship in the second year and
was funded by NSFAS in the third year,” he says. The stress of funding his education ambitions was
nothing new, however.
Kekana says: “I am the oldest of four siblings. My mother died when I was 12 and I never knew my
father. I was raised by my grandparents. We survived on government grants. I looked after my siblings
and my grandparents and sold sweets through high school so that my siblings could have money for
school trips and other things.
“I found my second year tough because of financial challenges and even failed tests. It was difficult to
perform excellently academically while you worried about the next meal or paying for study material
that was beyond your financial reach. During the vacation, I tutored maths at my old school and used
all my spare time to prepare for the next tests.”
Kekana says he scored 98% in a physiology test after scoring less than 50% in the previous three tests
and was called to the office of the head of department.
“He wanted to find out if I didn’t cheat or buy a question paper! I still remember his face, he couldn’t
believe it. I mean, who scores 98% while half of the class failed dismally.”
This was Kekana’s turning point and he passed every subsequent year with distinction. His proudest
moment was when he obtained his MBChB degree cum laude.
“I was posted at Mankweng Hospital for my internship training. I want to be a surgeon and practise in
both government hospitals and private practice and hopefully help to address the shortage of
specialists caused by surgeons leaving the country.”
He says his hard work and perseverance were supported by many contributions to his success
including his grandparents, girlfriend and siblings, as well as the Scholarship Fund and SMU. SMU’s
strong clinical and patient-centred approach set its medical school apart from the others and added
more value to his academic journey. And of course, not having to struggle for funding from his fourth
year was a great help too.
Although the competition for posts is tough and his short-term goal is simply to obtain a medical
officer post in a public hospital, Kekana hopes to train as a neurosurgeon. He would like to
contribute to the Fund’s activities. With two siblings being undergraduate students and another a
qualified teacher, Kekana hopes to contribute to medical students’ education by joining the Fund’s
mentoring programme.
He says you can see the importance of education even in patients.
“When you educate patients about their condition, you actually change their perspective about their
illness.”

Kgodiso Maunatlala grew up and attended high school in Tzaneen in Limpopo. She and her younger
brother were brought up by their grandmother. Watching her struggle and sacrifice to support them
was her first inspiration to better her family’s circumstances through education. With a love of life
sciences, her high school teacher encouraged her to apply to medical school. She was also encouraged
by having several role models in her extended family who achieved university qualifications, including
an uncle who studied economics and two aunts (law and HR respectively).
Despite dire economic pressures, Kgodiso has stuck resolutely to her task at SMU and in her first four
years, never achieved less than 60% for any module. She is equally proud that she has maintained
personal as well as academic discipline and never allows student social life to distract her from the
path to success. However, her success does not mean she didn’t have to negotiate serious challenges.
Kgodiso says: “Medicine is such a volume-loaded course. The amount of work that you have to know
and the clinical skills you have to learn puts you under a lot of pressure. I have felt so anxious and
depressed – you spend less and less time with your family members that you begin to lose those
close bonds. It is quite difficult to build strong friendships in school as everyone is new and in a new
environment. Being from a disadvantaged background is so difficult when you are surrounded by
people from well-off backgrounds. Buying textbooks was stressful as well as having to buy food.”
The pressure has eased since receiving the scholarship, says Kgodiso. “It was such a relief knowing
that your fees are taken care of, not having to put pressure on your family when you know that
things are hard enough at home.”
During her introduction to community service training in Garankuwa, she was reminded daily of how
people live and struggle. She says she is most grateful to her grandmother for always reminding her to
listen and speak with respect, no matter who the person is. Not only has it helped her to discover
patients’ symptoms and diagnose better, but she has learned invaluable insights from patients about
their attitudes and issues with health practitioners and western medicine.
At SMU, lecturers stress the value of respecting patients and seeing them as the most important part
of the healthcare system. This, and the amount of effort they put into their teaching and improving
the programme to produce better doctors, inspired her to want to follow their example and achieve
the highest clinical skill.
Reflecting on her journey, Kgodiso says her attraction to medicine as a matriculant was motivated by
expectations of financial reward and job security but now she is driven by professional gratification.
“Being able to suture for the first time on my own is a moment I will never forget. Initially, I was
scared but I was proud of how well I handled the pressure. Being able to see a patient getting better
each day, seeing a child that previously was very quiet and lethargic become active, be more playful
and smiling…”
She adds: “The best memory I have was my first vaginal delivery, being able to assist a mother as she
delivers her child was something amazing that I will never take for granted.”
Kgodiso says she will continue her academic journey after the MBChB and become a specialist in
Nephrology. “I plan on going back home to help those that are unable to travel far for dialysis by
opening a dialysis centre.”
She is also determined once she is working to plough back by contributing financially to the
scholarship fund so that others can be helped in the same way she was assisted.

Merick is from Majakaneng in the North West where she grew up with her two older brothers and
parents who had followed their calling to become missionaries.
“My parents devoted their lives to helping the community and did not have solid jobs, which made it
difficult to get most things needed for day-to-day living. As a child I would do odd jobs at weekends
to help with the family's upkeep,” she says.
She matriculated as the top student at Mogale Secondary and funded the first three years of her
studies with a merit bursary from SMU and student loans. Although the university was quite
“gracious” when she was in arrears, it was a great relief to receive the scholarship in her fourth year,
especially as the Fund settled her outstanding fees and enabled her to buy crucial study material.
“The Professor MCM Modiba Scholarship was an opportunity for me to study harder and I managed
to acquire distinctions in two surgical disciplines. It boosted my confidence to aspire to one day be a
general surgeon and selflessly serve those in need in our community,” Merick says.
While finding time to be a residential leader, class representative and editor of the student
magazine, Merick stayed focused on attaining her academic goals and was rewarded when she
achieved distinctions in her final year.
“I chose to study at SMU because it is one of the best universities in South Africa. The main strength
of SMU is unity in diversity; everybody is somebody, and there is an equal and level playing field. The
university gave me the best opportunity and I am grateful for them having chosen me,” she says.
Now working at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, she says she is committed to supporting
upcoming doctors by assisting the Fund in any way she can.

Onda grew up in the tiny township of Kwezi Naledi outside Lady Grey in the Eastern Cape. After ending
high school as one of the top five matriculants in his education district, he enrolled at SMU to do a BSc
which he funded through student loans. However, his excellent results (including being the top
achiever in Biochemistry in his second year) gave him the confidence to switch to MBChB after
completing the BSc.
“I always wanted to become a doctor. I am from an impoverished family and thus I needed to choose a
career that would help me to be financially stable enough to take care of my family while doing what I
enjoy for work so that I will not be frustrated when they cry for my help,” he says.
Still carrying three years of student debt, he faced the further challenge of being declined funding by
NSFAS, which does not fund second degrees. The first financial relief he experienced came after the
third year of his medical studies when he was not only awarded the Modiba Scholarship but also the
gift of having his debt cleared.
Although he says the fact that SMU begins Practice of Medicine in the first year is an advantage
compared to other schools, as the students get early experience of working with real patients, he
wasn’t prepared for some aspects of clinical practice.
“The shock of working with a cadaver…it overlaps with many cultural and religious norms that
prohibit you from doing certain things after touching a dead body. MBChB students are not
psychologically prepared for the trauma they will come across when working with patients. So it
poses a challenge when you lose a patient and you have to move on like nothing happened. You
teach yourself not to get attached to patients’ problems.”
One of the great lessons in humility that he has learned at SMU was to respect the knowledge and
skills of nurses, who are key to medical students’ training, and not be tempted to think that doctors
know it all. Onda says everything he has tried to achieve academically, even his choice of studying
medicine, has been driven by his consciousness of poverty while growing up in an impoverished village.
Along with his sister, a qualified nurse, he is a rare role model to youth in his village.
“Back at home, I earned a lot of respect, I am an example in my village to my peers and those younger
than me that you can be successful even if you are from a small village with limited resources.
“My goal is to gather skills and go back home to be of use and help those who are really in need. My
objectives are to change the village I come from, bring better health services and bring back hope to
the community,” says Onda.

The daughter of a trade unionist, Refilwe and her siblings (a sister who is now a nurse and a brother,
currently studying civil engineering) were always strongly socially conscious, which influenced her
attitude to education and the success she achieved as a student.
“I grew up in a deprived neighbourhood and realised at a young age that I could achieve through hard
work. I consistently did well at school and have performed well at university because I am consistent
and focused.”
She says SMU was the only university she applied to after matriculating and she was fortunate to
receive a merit bursary from the university.
“I chose this career path because seeing others suffer from pain ignites something inside of me. We all
have a purpose and a certain role to play and I strongly feel mine is to help people,” says Refilwe.
Studying medicine was a seven-day-a-week commitment and she found little time for socialising or
recreation. Although she experienced financial constraints before gaining the scholarship, she was
never deterred by it, mainly because of the support she received at SMU from her lecturers.
“They have good hands-on practicals, they are for the students, to a point where they offer support for
their students. SMU has the best teachers!” Refilwe says.
Not only did the staff instil the value of hard work in her but she has decided to follow her role model,
Professor Koto, and specialise in either general surgery or paediatric surgery. Refilwe is completing her
internship at OR Tambo Memorial Hospital after obtaining her MBChB degree. She says her greatest
reward comes from seeing patients become better and hearing patients say how satisfied they are
with her services.
“Thanks to the scholarship, I am able to give back to my country and be of service to society,” says
Refilwe. “I hope to give back to the Fund as a mentor and through financial support where I can.”

Zibuyile was born in Manguzi, a village in northeastern KwaZulu-Natal, but grew up in Nongoma and
Newcastle. The oldest of four siblings, her mother is a retired teacher. The family struggled
financially after her father passed away in 2005. Despite this, she enrolled for a Bachelor of Health
Sciences degree at Wits but was excluded in her first year after being unable to pay the fees.
Although this was a setback, Zibuyile decided to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a doctor,
rather than giving up.
“I went back home and I got a job teaching Grade 2 learners. After unsuccessfully applying for
Medicine at Medunsa in 2008 I enrolled in and completed a Physiotherapy degree. During my
physiotherapy community service, I ran a monthly clinic for children with cerebral palsy.”
Zibuyile used her first lack of success to motivate herself to work extremely hard and not only won
merit bursaries from the university that enabled her to continue studying but also won awards for
best overall first-year student and best final-year student in Orthopaedics.”
Thanks to her performance in Physiotherapy, she was accepted for MBChB studies at SMU in 2015.
Using the same approach that brought her success before, Zibuyile kept her social life to a minimum,
studied seven days a week and used the library to access the textbooks, which she could not afford
to buy. She was awarded the Modiba scholarship for the last three academic years of the degree,
which she completed in 2020, graduating cum laude amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She then
completed her internship at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa where she was
placed in Internal Medicine. She completed her community service at Mankweng Hospital in
Limpopo.
 
Reflecting on her long and hard journey she says: “I knew as early as Grade 6 that I wanted to
become a doctor. Being the first-born in my family taught me the responsibility of caring for others. 
I always had that caring spirit and was above average in my academic performance, which is why I
thought medicine would be a better fit for me.
“I only qualified for medicine ten years after matric but my experiences will make me a better
doctor. The challenges I went through in my journey made me resilient and a hard worker. Our
government hospitals do not have enough doctors, they lack resources for the critically ill and the
waiting period for surgery is too long. I want to be able to help address these problems by bringing
better services to the community and making a positive impact on people’s health and physical well-
being.” 
Zibuyile, who hopes to specialise in orthopaedic surgery, says the scholarship made her last years of
study stress-free, not only for herself but also for her family back home.
“Getting funded by the MCM Modiba Scholarship truly changed my life in the best way.”