A mother's poignant graduation tribute
Mrs Thembisile Hlatshwayo at her daughter's Sinenhlanhla Hlatshwayo graduation at DUT.
Image: DUT/Supplied
They say that the worst pain is a mother burying her child.
It must also be painful for a mother to attend a graduation and accept a posthumous qualification on behalf of her late daughter.
This was the painful reality for Mrs Thembisile Hlatshwayo. In an emotionally charged moment, Hlatshwayo took to the stage at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) at the weekend —not as a graduate, but as a grieving mother honouring the memory of her daughter, Sinenhlanhla Hlatshwayo.
With tears streaming down her face and unimaginable courage in her heart, Hlatshwayo accepted a posthumous Diploma in Information and Communications Technology (ICT): Applications Development on behalf of her daughter, who passed away just days after completing her final exams.
The graduation ceremony was held at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban.
The audience stood still as DUT Registrar, Dr Maditsane Nkonoane, extended heartfelt condolences to the Hlatshwayo family. A moment of silence was also observed to honour the young woman whose dream was cut short too soon.
'She left DUT on the 7th of November after completing her final exams. She was home for seven days, seemed fine, and then… she was gone,' Mrs Hlatshwayo said quietly after the ceremony. 'She was not sick. She slept and never woke up. We still don't know what took her.'
Sinenhlanhla passed away on November 14, 2024, leaving behind a devastated family and a heartbroken community in Mtubatuba, northern KwaZulu-Natal. The unexplained nature of her death continues to haunt her loved ones, with no cause yet confirmed.
Hlatshwayo recounted the morning she returned home from an all-night church service, only to find her daughter cold and lifeless in bed.
'She was our hope,' she said, her voice trembling. 'She was the only one in university. We were all looking forward to the life she would build for herself and for us.'
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What used to be a cause for celebration and hope turned into grief. Her younger son, who had been preparing to start university, is too afraid to follow in his sister's footsteps.
'He told me he's scared. Scared that he'll go and never come back, just like his sister,' said Hlatshwayo.
Despite the pain, she made the brave choice to walk across that stage in her daughter's name.
'It was hard,' she said. 'But I needed to do it for her. She worked so hard. That diploma belongs to her, and it had to come home.'
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