Growing up‚ Mekuto decided he would not follow the same path as his peers. “The mistake we in the township make is that we want to go with the crowd. I decided in Grade 10 that I was not going to do that any more‚” he said.
“I tell learners‚ ‘define who you are and what you want’. Once you’ve done that‚ you have to make a conscious decision to go after what it is that you want.”
Mekuto said he had decided not to let his upbringing define his future. “I have come through the NSFAS [National Student Financial Aid Scheme] system. NSFAS paid for my BTech up to my PhD‚ so in my view no funding is no excuse‚” he said.
Mekuto obtained his BTech in 2011‚ followed by a postgraduate degree‚ a Master’s completed in 18 months and now his PhD‚ which took him three years. He tutors high school pupils in mathematics and physics over weekends.