THE mother of Rhodes University student Lelona Fufu, who was murdered while hitchhiking to her graduation ceremony in 2012, feels honoured to be going back to Grahamstown to hand over a R90 000 scholarship in memory of her daughter tomorrow. Although Lelona's mom, Bongeka Fufu, is still struggling to come to terms with the senseless slaying of her child by taxi driver Mxolisi Kitsana, 29, she is happy that Rhodes University has established the Lelona Fufu scholarship.
A teacher herself, Bongeka is pleased the bursary will go towards funding further studies by a deserving student, Thobeka Shibe, who graduates this week with a triple major in zoology, mathematics and statistics.
"We feel honoured that a scholarship has been set up in Lelona's memory. It will be the first time yet that Rhodes University has given this honour to a student," Fufu, who lives in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth, said.
A Rhodes University official had visited her at home at the weekend and explained that scholarships were usually named after "old men" like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu and not in memory of students, Fufu said.
"Scholarships normally honour icons of the world. We are proud that Lelona has been given this honour. It brings a little relief to our pain."
The 23-year-old student went missing three years ago after hitching a ride with a stranger from Motherwell to Grahamstown for her graduation that evening.
Her body was found with stab wounds in the neck and chest the following day on the Addo road near the old Coega Hotel. Kitsana, 29, was later arrested and given two life sentences for the killing.
Fufu said: "It is good the scholarship is going to someone who really needs and deserves it. Even though I am sad my daughter is gone, I am happy she has not been forgotten.
"Her memory will live on at Rhodes forever."
Shibe will use the bursary to fund her honours studies this year. The ceremony will be watched by Shibe's mother Cynthia, who works as a domestic in KwaZulu-Natal. She will take a bus to Grahamstown.
"I am sure my mother will start crying when I am given the scholarship," Shibe said.
"I also come from a poor background and feel like I was in a similar situation as Lelona. I really don't want to let anybody down." Shibe said her mother had made a lot of sacrifices for her to realise her academic dream.
Despite her mother earning very little, the family never went hungry and this had inspired her.
Before coming to Rhodes in 2009, Shibe worked in a cousin's spaza shop for a year. Seeing a person get shot changed her life and she decided to apply for funding to study at Rhodes.
Article by: David Macgregor
Article source: Herald