‘My footsteps may be slow but I will get there’
Fikile Ngcani was shot in the head during an armed robbery. Using one hand to write, he completed his degree in the prescribed three years
Image: supplied
Paralysed by a bullet during an armed robbery, an Eastern Cape man graduated at the University of Fort Hare (UFH) exactly 14 years later.
Fikile Ngcani from Comfimvaba matriculated at the age of 31 in 2013.
He was shot in the head during an armed robbery in Johannesburg on May 18 2008. The shooting left the now 40-year-old paralysed on the right side of his body, caused damage to his bladder and speech impairment.
“I went to the local store to buy airtime. When I was about to enter the store, I heard gunshots and an order to lie on the floor, which I did. I was shot while lying on the floor, face down,” he said.
After spending three months recovering in hospital, he decided to move back to the Eastern Cape.
“I lived with my grandmother who had no means of income. We only had one meal a day and there was no money for transport to attend physiotherapy sessions. I became hopeless,” he said.
However, he was not ready to give up. “I dropped out of school in grade 11. I knew it would be difficult to get back into the schooling system but I was determined.”
Fortunately, he was accepted at a local school where he was placed in the grade 10 class at age 28. “My matric bachelor pass was my ticket to university,” he said.
Ngcani applied to UFH and initially studied towards a BCom degree in business management and industrial psychology.
In 2016 while in the second year of his BCom study, Prof Willie Chinyamurindi nominated Ngcani for an essay writing competition.
His essay, My footsteps may be slow but I will get there, earned him the first prize of R40,000.
Ngcani enrolled for a Bachelor of arts degree in 2019. Using only one hand to write, he managed to complete his degree in the prescribed three years.
“Currently, my goal is to obtain an Honours degree. However, I have to settle my student debt first. I am hoping for financial assistance to pay it off to reach my goal.
“It is only now that I realise how far I have come from the day of the shooting. I had so many obstacles stacked against me but I never gave up,” said Ngcani.
He has to secure employment as he depends on his disability grant.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.