Msawenkosi Buthelezi, the top overall performing learner in Gauteng for the 2024 NSC exams, has proven that hard work and determination can transform dreams into reality, as he sets his sights on studying medicine and neuroscience at the University of Cape Town.
Kwa-Thema – Msawenkosi Buthelezi (18) has made the people of Kwa-Thema proud as the top overall performing learner in Gauteng for the 2024 NSC exams.
“Right now I am still overwhelmed. Two weeks ago I was anxious about my results. The papers did not feel easy, and I told all my teachers after every exam,” he said.
Buthelezi achieved distinctions in Zulu HM, English FAL, geography, physical science, mathematics, life sciences and life orientation.
“I always knew that I was academically gifted. From as early as Grade R I would get awards and be the top learner. But I believe that it is 50 % hard work,” he explained.
Buthelezi said it was in the first term of Grade 10 he chose to commit to his school work in order to get the best results.
“I got level four for physics and level five for maths. I just knew that I could do better than that. I did it one step at a time, and eventually I got where I wanted to be.”
At the end of his Grade 10 year, Buthelezi’s average was 79% but at the end 2024, his average was 96%. Buthelezi was one of the top achievers from the Class of 2024 to attend a breakfast hosted in their honour at the MTN Innovation Centre in Fairland, Randburg, on January 13 by the Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube.
Coming from Zimisele Secondary School, Buthelezi said the experience also helped him to realise that learners who attend township schools are not academically disadvantaged.
“Most of the top learners of 2024 came from township schools,” he added.
He said he knows his life is about to change for the better.
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“It has already started changing,” he said.
Buthelezi will study medicine at the University of Cape, which he plans integrate with a BSc honours in neuroscience.
“One of the reasons I want to be a neuro surgeon and a neuro scientist is because I am fascinated with innovation and research, to create a better future for the world,” he explained.
Buthelezi was involved in a motor vehicle accident a few years ago that left him with debilitating migraines. His mother also has some cognitive impairments and his father died from a neurological stroke.
“If I can help one person not to feel the pain that I have been living with, then I would have become a doctor for the right reason,” he said.
When his nose is not buried in a book, Buthelezi enjoys basketball, which he hopes to pursue when he gets to Cape Town.
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