The foundation, under the umbrella of one of South Africa’s leading information and communication technology companies, Gijima, officially made the donation at the university’s main hall on Tuesday.

The laptops, branded with a historic photograph of the lifeless body of young Hector Peterson being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo taken by Mpumalanga’s veteran photojournalist, Sam Nzima, were handed over by Gijima’s chief marketing officer, Roberta Gumede.

“Minister Blade Nzimande recently announced that all NSFAS beneficiaries would receive laptops and data to ensure that they can attend online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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“However, many students don’t qualify for the scheme, and just yesterday, NSFAS announced that about 5 000 students will be cut off from the scheme, as a result of certain information from SARS. This means that there will be more students who won’t benefit from it.

“NSFAS beneficiaries account to about 40 per cent of the undergraduate population in universities, this means about 60 per cent of undergraduates have to fund themselves. Unfortunately, with the high rate of unemployment in South Africa, and especially in Mpumalanga, it is much more difficult for students studying at the university to receive sufficient financial support in order to get through their studies,” she said.

Gumede continued, “The Robert Gumede Family Keni Foundation and Gijima feel it is imperative that the ‘missing middle’ is assisted to ensure that more students receive a fair and equal opportunity to complete their studies. We believe that education is power, a key to success, a differentiator, a ceiling breaker and unleashes one’s potential to greater heights. And as we hand over these laptops today we would like to help the university breach the gap and assist more students at the University of Mpumalanga, in order to help build more inspiring leaders in our beautiful province.

“We hope that one day some of the students who receive the laptops today will assist other students in the future and in that way it makes this donation a lifetime contribution from Gijima and the foundation.”

Receiving the laptops on behalf of the university, vice-chancellor Prof Thoko Mayikiso said, “On behalf of the council and the university management, it is my greatest honour and privilege to accept this donation on behalf of the university.

“At the end of April, the minister of higher education, Dr Blade Nzimande, announced that the government would assist NSFASfunded students with devices.

“This posed a challenge to us as we wanted all our students without devices to be assisted to access online teaching and learning. It was at this point that we approached Robert Gumede for assistance with devices and, as they say, true friends are like stars that shine when days are not so bright. We are grateful that we have managed to touch his heart and hence the donation today”.