THE son of a Rhodes University gardener is reaching for the stars thanks to a prestigious scholarship from 20 collaborating countries who are trying to build the world’s most powerful radio telegraph in South Africa.
Even though 19-year-old science and maths whizz Vuyile Sixaba was given the second name of Lucky when he was born, his impressive academic achievements have happened through sheer hard work.
Born, raised and schooled in Grahamstown’s historic Fingo village, he was one of the Eastern Cape’s top matriculants in 2010.
Sixaba scored 100% for mathematics and 88% for physics and proved that thanks to committed students and teachers, even under fire township schools can produce the next generation of South African scientists.
Given a full university scholarship by the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Africa global collaboration that hopes to build the R200-billion telescope in South Africa instead of Australia, it is not hard to see why many say the sky is indeed the limit for Sixaba.
Earlier this week Rhodes University Vice-chancellor Dr Saleem Badat named Sixaba as an example of the “next generation” of students that they hoped to attract and nurture.
Earlier, speaking about the university and Professor Justin Jonas of the physics and electronics department’s involvement in the project, Badat said: “Rhodes has contributed the chief scientist, Prof Justin Jonas, and numerous other scholars and graduates to this endeavour and we look forward to the international community later adjudicating our bid successful.”
He said that “Vuyile ... is a good example of the incredible talent that we potentially have in our local schools”.
Badat said it was remarkable that Sixaba and others like him survived and flourished.
“By next generation I mean that he hopefully will be the next generation of outstanding scholars or research scientists that our society, universities and research institutions desperately need for producing the knowledge to fuel economic and social development,” he explained.
Although Sixaba said he was not sure whether he really wanted to spend hours staring into space, he agreed majoring in mathematics and physics would come in handy trying to calculate the scientific answers that the telescope will try to solve.
The Nathaniel Nyaluza Secondary School matriculant said he considered himself fortunate that his thirst for knowledge had been nurtured from a young age by top quality teachers who mentored him at school.
He said his former maths teacher Dr Humphrey Atebe was a major influence along with other students at the school who also went on to study at Rhodes.
“Two of my siblings dropped out of university and for me it seemed like an impossible dream, but my mother and grandmother inspired me to do well.”
Another inspiration was his best friend and former Nathaniel Nyaluza pupil Sivuyile Madikane who is doing honours in statistics.
For several years Sixaba’s mother Nomathemba worked as a domestic in Port Elizabeth and he was raised by his gran, Citiwe Agnes Sixaba, in Fingo village.
His 92-year-old gogo said she was happy and proud of his achievements.
His mother, who is a general worker in the university’s grounds and gardens department, said having a son at Rhodes on a full scholarship was “a dream come true”.
By David MacGregor
Source: Daily Dispatch