Local government bursaries awarded to Ichthyology students

Giving back is the watchword behind a unique bursary programme funded by the Local Government Sector Education Training Authority (LGSETA). A total of R150 000 has been granted to five students (amounting to R30 000 each) to study Ichthyology and Fisheries Science at Rhodes University.

The added incentive is that the students will become employed within the local government sector after they have graduated.

The five students:  Mpho Moagi; Ayrelia Moodley; Jessica Joyner (who are in third year) Ann Wu and Chris Gornall (Honours) were awarded the bursaries in order to study Ichthyology in 2011.

As a personal testimony to the success of the programme, one student in particular, Nomonde Ndlangisa, was awarded the bursary last year and is now working as an intern for the Department’s Rural Fisheries Programme (RFP).

“The basic goal is that you are given this bursary in order to give back,” Ndlangisa says. “It encourages you to carry on; not to feel beholden, but to feel invested in.”

Ndlangisa says she is really grateful for the opportunity to experience a cross-section of skills by combining her knowledge of Ichthyology and working with people. By building capacity among the residents of local municipalities, traditional leaders and helping individuals use marine resources in a sustainable way, the RFP seeks “to work with people at the top, the politicians and economists, all the way through to the local residents, to understand the long-term effects of over-fishing”.

“There’s a lot of ignorance about the natural sciences and its importance, even among the so-called informed generation,” she says, lamenting the danger of an increasingly self-centred society. “It’s our responsibility to make the changes and it starts with informing people and sharing our knowledge.”

Unbeknownst to them, the students had already enrolled to study at Rhodes, when they were contacted and asked if they would like to accept the scholarship. Wu says, “It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Seeing as her fees had already been paid, the funding covered a large portion of her postgraduate studies instead. Moodley says she feels honoured by the opportunity. “I feel like it has opened so many doors for the future. Being at Rhodes University is no easy task. It’s a lot of work and effort academically but it has also been fun and exciting to know that Rhodes has become the last stepping stone to my future.”

Gornall says he really enjoys the hands-on contact of the field work, which totals at four trips per year for the honours students. The most recent of these was to Rondevlei in the Western Cape, where the students assisted SanParks in an ongoing project whereby species composition is being monitored in the Wilderniss National Park.

“It is great to do what I’m really passionate about - keeping fish in my own system. I’m really excited about aquaculture being the most sustainable way to supplement our declining fish populations,” Gornall says.

“Receiving this bursary affects not only us, but also the people we will help in the future. I am thankful for the bursary,” added Gornall.  

“Nomonde is the poster-child of the LGSETA bursaries,” Gornall jokes, adding that it has obviously been a success as five bursaries have been awarded and one recipient is already involved.

Wu agrees, saying that she has always loved fish. She particularly enjoys the honours projects and is currently conducting research on sea-cucumbers, a largely unexplored field of research.

Photo and story by Anna-Karien Otto

Left to right: Nomonde Ndlangisa, RFP intern and former bursary recipient; LGSETA CEO Ntombenhle Nkosi; Janet Davies, Skills Sector Planning Manager of the LGSETA; Ann Wu (honours) Mpho Moagi (third year) ; Ayrelia Moodley (third year) and Chris Gornall (honours) in the back row.