Grandfather graduates after 32 years

It took 32 years but Lieutenant-General (retired) Themba TT Matanzima finally has his degree.

The 65-year-old grandfather of two‚ brother of former Transkei homeland president KD Matanzima‚ graduated with a BSc from WSU’s Nelson Mandela Drive (formerly Unitra) campus on Friday.

He majored in psychology and political science. Matanzima registered for his undergraduate degree at Unitra in 1986.

He abandoned his degree in favour of a military career‚ where he racked up a number of accolades. After apartheid and its homelands policy fell in the 1990s‚ Unitra‚ a hotbed of 1980s anti-apartheid student resistance‚ was incorporated into WSU in 2005. Matanzima is now the military ombudsman after retiring as SANDF chief of joint operations.

He was the oldest by far of about 100 students who graduated in his class.

The upbeat Matanzima quipped: “Most [of my classmates] were not yet born when I first started my degree!"