Ernest Maile Moukangwe

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I would like to start by expressing my sincere gratitude for your generosity and considerateness. I really consider myself fortunate for being on the receiving end of your helping hand. The R5000 grant that has been forwarded to me will be spent as follows: R1400 will cover my initial payment for tuition fees. The full amount for tuition fees is R2440. The balance will be used to pay for my residence fees.

Well my full name is Ernest Maile Moukangwe. I was born in the outskirts of Nelspruit in the Transvaal some 27 years ago and me and my whole family still make our residence there.

I wish I were asked to furnish documentary proof to my family’s financial background, otherwise, I am afraid, what follows might sound like sheer exaggeration. On the other hand I want to believe that the reader of this letter is a person who is quite familiar with the socio-economic atmosphere especially in the so-called homelands of the erstwhile Bantustans where I hail from.

I come from a poor family of three boys and a single girl and I am the baby in the family. My dad is a pensioner and so is my mother. My father went on pension when I was still doing my standard nine at high school. He had worked as a labourer for the rest of his adult life—he worked for the same company for 35 years. My mother, on the other hand, has been a housewife since my childhood and she still is. Both of them are semi-illiterate.

At the moment the only income that keeps the family going is the pension that both my parents receive from the state. My eldest brother fell prey to the retrenchments of the 1980’s and is at the moment unemployed. He has no qualifications whatsoever. My other brother is married as is my sister who is a primary school teacher. The latter contributes occasionally to the family’s financial needs.

Despite my gloomy family background, I was a very bright pupil. Hence I was able to bring happiness and hopes-for-the-future by always being at the top throughout my primary education. I cam to be synonymous with position one.

At the end of my primary education I was nominated the best pupil for staying at the top throughout.

In standard six I topped the class and was issued with a merit certificate for being the best student in that year. The following year I moved from the junior secondary school where I was doing my standard six. It was too far from home and the subjects they were offering were not divergent. It was three languages, biology, mathematics and agriculture throughout. No one of us had a choice.

I did my standard seven at a senior secondary school which was not so far from home. I kept my record of staying at the top and at the end of the year I earned myself a dictionary and a photo album for being the best student in Afrikaans and for being among the top three students, respectively.

In a nutshell my school career was a smooth one—I never repeated the same class twice. My main activities then were mainly sports and I liked debating. I was also a member of the youth movement in the township.

After matriculating—at the age of 18—I had to seek work because my parents could not afford fees to any tertiary institution. I was thus forced to work since I could not get a bursary at the time despite numerous applications. After working for three years as a clerk of the court in the homeland’s magistrate office and having saved money for my first university year, I decided to register with the University of Durban-Westville. I chose this university because of its diverse population.

I fell in love with Philosophy in my first year of study and became an active member of the Society for Philosophy Students that was formed that year. I have been a member of SOPS since then.

As far as my community involvement is concerned, I am a member of the ANC youth league in the township where I come from. I am also a member of the SASCO’s media section.

My ambition of doing a post-graduate degree in Philosophy would not have been realized had it not been for your financial help.

I would thus like to end this letter by thanking you once more.

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