Before the photos. Before the applause. Before the proud walk across the stage there are stories most people never see. Stories of loss, of sacrifice and of choosing to keep going when stopping would have been easier. For Siyanda Kepadisa and Tusekile Zungu, graduation wasn’t just a milestone. It was a fight against poverty and unemployment.
Tusekile Zungu
Siyanda Kepadisa studied Production Arts at AFDA, with plans to pursue motion picture studies. Securing funding for a specialist arts institution is rarely straightforward, and Siyanda’s path was made immeasurably harder when her father passed away in 2024, leaving her mother, who was not employed, as her only family support.
“It was extremely difficult for me when my father passed. He wasn’t just a beloved member of the family, he was also our breadwinner,” she reflects. “What kept me motivated post his passing, was the idea that if I don’t do it, no one will do it for me.”
“Graduation is meant to be a time of pride, joy and celebration not stress about how you’ll afford an outfit, how you’ll get to the venue, or how you’ll pull everything together on the day.” Says Lebogang Gaoaketse, Head of Marketing and Communication at WesBank.
Understanding this, WesBank set out to remove those pressures by launching a social media #BigGrad competition rooted in a simple belief which is; some moments in life should be free from worry.
Through the competition, two deserving graduates were selected to receive a fully sponsored graduation experience. Each winner was provided with a chauffeured vehicle to their ceremony, a curated outfit, as well as professional hair and makeup all to the value of R15,000 per graduate.
Because when you’ve worked that hard to earn the moment, the focus should be on celebrating it not worrying about how to make it happen.
It was Siyanda’s mother who quietly entered her into the competition. When she told her she had won, Siyanda didn’t believe it. “It was only when WesBank got in touch with me that I really started to believe that this was real,” explained Siyanda. As the first person in her family to graduate, the significance of the day runs deep. Getting a chance to celebrate it in style made it all the more memorable.
Tusekile Zungu, completed her degree in Development Studies and Psychology at the University of Johannesburg, alongside 14 additional job-ready certificates. Fees were a constant source of pressure, and whilst NSFAS grants provided some relief, the pressures of university still existed.
“My university journey was difficult,” she says. “But even with the little I got from NSFAS, I managed to send money home. What kept me motivated is that I wanted to be the first one in my family to do better, so that I could give back and help them build a home for themselves.”
When the news reached her that she had won the #BigGrad competition, the reaction said everything. “I couldn’t believe that I had won. I cried so hard. I was crying in the taxi, people were so worried about me.”
Selected through a social media competition that called for nominations across the country, Siyanda and Tusekile received a fully sponsored graduation day experience, where every detail was taken care of, and each service was provided by carefully selected young solopreneurs, making the day a celebration of South Africa’s emerging generation in more ways than one.
For WesBank, Big Grad Energy reflects a genuine commitment to walking alongside young South Africans as they take their first steps into professional life.
“Siyanda and Tusekile represent the incredible potential of South Africa’s youth. They’re both young women who refused to let circumstance define their outcomes. It is a privilege to play even a small part in their stories, and a reminder of why Graduate Finance by WesBank exists: to move with this generation as they take on the future.” Concludes Gaoaketse.
To find out more about Graduate Finance by WesBank, visit www.wesbank.co.za.
