Musawenkhosi Sourambe has become one of the youngest students on the continent to obtain a PhD at the age of 23 at North-West University.

Getting there was not easy. Her father‚ a teacher‚ sold his car to help put her through third year. But her determination to succeed paid off and now she has a PhD in industrial psychology.

North West University said she had obtained her PhD with no corrections being made to her thesis‚ which was flawless.

Sourambe started school at the age of four in Gaborone‚ Botswana. When she was in grade three her teacher promoted her to grade four after the first school term.

“My parents had to explain to my teachers after wanting to promote me to other grades that I needed time to mature and it was true because when I got to university I struggled‚” she said.

Sourambe matriculated at the age of 15 and started a BCom degree at 16. She received an honours degree at 19 and master’s degree by the age of 21- with distinction.

First PhD in isiXhosa lauded Hleze Kunju has been hailed for breaking barriers in academia after becoming the first person at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape to write a PhD in his mother tongue.

Her initial years at university were tough‚ she added‚ because she struggled to relate to other university students.

“I had a lot of responsibility from a young age and my peers had more liberty than I did because I was so young‚” she said.

“I couldn’t act my own age. I always had to be more matured and some of my peers didn’t know how old I was‚” she said.

Hleze Kunju's proudest moment - writing his PhD in isiXhosa Hleze Kunju has been hailed for breaking barriers in academia after becoming the first person at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape to write a PhD in his mother tongue.

Sourambe‚ who has already joined a doctoral fellowship at North West University‚ said she had a few academic conferences lined up overseas for the rest of the year. She is involved in teaching and supervising postgraduate students at NWU’s campus in Mahikeng.

Her goal now is to get a driver’s licence. She was too young to get one after matric and too busy completing her third year at university when she turned 18.