After successfully hosting the Ngwaabe Circuit’s matric awards ceremony, the local mines namely: Dwarsrivier Chrome Mine (DCM), Boleng Trust, Valterra Platinum and Glencore once again partnered with the Mashishing Circuit to host the top achievers awards.

The event was held on February 5 at Hoërskool Lydenburg. Other sponsors of this event were Old Mutual, Sanlam, Kellysville Primary School and many more stakeholders.

The attendees included the mine’s management, the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (TCLM) executive mayor, Friddah Nkadimeng; the Mashishing Circuit manager, Gerald Mokoena, labour unions, pastors, principals of the schools within the Mashishing Circuit, top performing pupils, educators and parents.

The Mashishing Circuit, which is in the Bohlabela District, emerged as Mpumalanga’s best-performing circuits in the 2025 matric results, with a remarkable 97.3%. With these outstanding results, the awards rewarded academic excellence in extracurricular activities, sports and music, science projects, and arts and culture. During the awards, primary schools in the circuit were also handed the extracurricular awards.

Speaking at the event, Mayor Nkadimeng said the 97.3% achievement sends a powerful message that excellence is possible wherever there is commitment, vision and belief.

She congratulated Thaba Chweu Boarding School for achieving a 100% pass rate, up from 97.6% in 2024, and Mashishing Secondary School for improving to 96% from 89.99%, Skhila Secondary School for maintaining strong consistency with 94.84%, and Hoërskool Lydenburg, a true trailblazer, for its consistent 100% pass rate year after year, setting a standard for all to aspire to.

Nkadimeng thanked teachers, school management teams, SGBs, parents and the private sector for their unwavering support to education. The mining houses added to the celebration by donating laptops, tablets and prize money to top-performing schools and learners.
Speaking on behalf of the mines was DCM’s Remember Mmbengwa. He encouraged the Mashisshing Circuit to conduct career expos to prepare pupils for the future.

“We need to invite institutions of higher learning that will share wisdom and information of how pupils can choose their different careers. These expos must happen before the month of June.”

Mmbengwa said the mining partnership between DCM, Boleng Trust, Valterra Platinum and Glencore should make provisions for bursaries.
To the educators and parents, Mmbengwa said they need to monitor students at tertiary institutions.

“At DCM, with the assistance of Boleng Trust, we have appointed a company called Tomorrow Trust. It will be walking the journey with our bursars. Tomorrow Trust will organise visits to all our bursars to check on them, see their challenges and assist them.”

Mmbengwa urged stakeholders and other mines to donate school uniforms. “A child without school uniform lacks confidence. When you give a needy child a proper uniform, you improve his or her confidence, give encouragement, and groom a person who is ready to fight for his or her own career.”

Mmbengwa applauded the leadership of the Mashishhing Circuit, “We appreciate the hard work by the educators from this circuit. Looking at the circuit’s good results it shows the commitment and hard work by the teachers.”

The circuit manager, Mokoena, thanked all the partners for investing in education. He once again pleaded for the support from the community, the local government and the private sector in order to keep the Mpumalanga’s number one matric spot.

Hoërskool Lydenburg emerged as the school with the highest number of distinctions and bachelor passes, while Mashishing Secondary School was named the most-improved school.
Hoërskool Lydenburg’s Sarah Lin was the top achiever with an aggregate of 88%.