Musawenkosi Cabe
I am from a village in the midlands, Elandskop, Pietermaritzburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, the son of Mzwandile Cabe and the late Thenjiwe Cabe. I am the only brother to five sisters and uncle to 14 nieces and nephews.
I spent most of my childhood and early youth in the rolling hills of the village as a herder of goats and cattle. I also attended primary and secondary schools in and around Elandskop.
Between 2011 and 2016, I obtained three qualifications at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape: a Bachelor of Arts in Political and International Studies and Law; a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political and International Studies; and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB).
In my latter years at Rhodes University (between 2015 and 2016), I witnessed a defining moment for higher education in South Africa, not as a bystander but as an activist. I was part of a group of students who formed the Black Student Movement, which became the driver of the struggle for free education, decolonisation of the curriculum and institutional transformation.
Coming from a working-class and poor background, the fight and struggle for access to free quality education was deeply personal for me. Three of my older siblings could not further their education because of a lack of funds. It was through bursaries and government assistance that my sister and I could go to university and become first-generation graduates.
Today, I work in Johannesburg as a journalist and podcaster for a social justice publication, New Frame.