From first year to final year students alike, inductees were impressed by the magnitude and extent of SANRAL’s footprint on the national network and how this touch lives daily.   

The Western Region’s bursary and scholarship induction event was held at the South African National Roads Agency (SOC) Limited (SANRAL) Regional Office in Bellville recently, during which 30 students and learners gathered to get a taste of SANRAL’s work and vision for the next generation of civil engineers.  

Once the ice was broken, courtesy of some awkward speed dating, it was down to business.  

From first year to final year students alike, the inductees were impressed by the magnitude and extent of SANRAL’s footprint on the national network and how this touches lives daily.  

Randall Cable, Western Region Manager, touched on the use of technology and the potential this unlocks in road construction and beyond.  

After lunch, Kayelihle Molefe and Nthokozo Sikhosana, final year civil engineering students at the University of Cape Town (UCT), captivated the audience with their inspirational stories.  

These two can only be described as “besties”. They hail from Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal and after a bromance in high school, they went their separate ways.  

Their academic rollercoasters finally brought them back together at university.  

Molefe’s journey took him to the University of Pretoria to pursue a degree in actuarial science, which was short lived and was then followed by a stint at the University of the Western Cape, where he dabbled in dentistry. With near perfect teeth, he soon discovered that this was not his thing either. 

Sikhosana attended Stellenbosch University for his first year, which also did not work out, and the two soon ended up back home in Newcastle.  

After re-grouping, the duo decided on civil engineering as a career and, with no funds available, started the process of bursary applications.  

As fate would have it, they had their interviews a day apart and clearly made a massive impression on the panel, as they both walked off with full bursaries to pursue civil engineering at UCT. The rest is history.  

When one was ready to give up, the other was there to encourage him. Together they tackled and overcame every exam.  

Today, they are more excited than anxious to complete that final exam later this year and venture into the field as engineering cadets.