Exclusive: Meet Edith Hlongwane, From Security Officer to BA Degree Holder

• Another South African woman, Edith Hlongwane, is a proud holder of a BA degree in Criminology from Unisa
• Hlongwane says she worked as a security officer for more than a decade and decided to uplift herself by furthering her studies
• The 45-year-old recently chatted with Briefly News and she is based in Tshwane but originally comes from Limpopo in Tzaneen

Briefly News brings you another inspiring story of a woman, Edith Hlongwane, who worked for many years as a security officer at the South African Police Services. The bubbly woman’s situation didn’t deter her ambitions to achieve academic success.

In an exclusive interview with Briefly News, Hlongwane says she passed her Grade 12 in 1994 with an S but she pushed to reach the top. She also says she registered with Unisa to ensure she improved her results and bagged an exemption.

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The 45-year-old from Tzaneen in Limpopo but now stays in Tshwane in Atteridgeville explains she now boasts of a BA degree in Criminology.

Edith Hlongwane shares her academic success with Mzansi

The proud lady states that she completed her degree in time of three years and clinched a distinction, Cum Laude, and her message is that anything is possible in life: She said:

“To me, achieving this qualification is a blessing and I feel so blessed and thank God for his Grace. My family supported me so much through this journey, my husband is the one who encouraged me to register with Unisa, saying I am very much intelligent when it comes to education. He said that because I helped him to complete his matric certificate in 2011.

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“When I first registered with Unisa, I was thinking of studying social work but after completing my matric exemption with Unisa. I had access to study for a degree as I passed my matric 1994 with the S symbol. I stayed for many years without registering again as we were paying fees for our daughter at the University of Johannesburg. And those times we were not earning much with my husband. We were working for Protea Coin security company. I worked at private security companies for more than 10 years before being employed by SAPS as a security officer.”

Hlongwane explains her choice and why she is still working as a security officer with the men in blue. She also added that she is admitted to do her honours:

“After joining SAPS, I thought of perusing careers at SAPS, thinking that studying about the crime is something needed in this department, then I registered for criminology where I majored in criminology and psychology. I saw that working in this department you really need psychological support. I am already accepted by Unisa for honours in Criminology which I will be doing in the next semester. For now, I am still working as a security officer and I believe that the God whom I trust will make it possible for me. To be honest, I am tired of working as a security officer.”

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While she admits that there are challenges in life, she shares a special message with an ordinary woman out there, that balancing studies and work is possible. She continued:

“I would like to say to all women out there, including men and especially security officers that we always complain that we are mistreated and disrespected in our working environment. This is up to us guys, we can change our lives. Let us further our studies and become better and work where we can be appreciated. While on night shift instead of being happy that you have time to sleep, let's use that time to study.”

"Onwards and upwards": Young lady graduates in style, Mzansi loves it

In a related article, Briefly News wrote that South African youth are slowly but surely grabbing education by the horns and becoming graduates.

A young lady has just jumped on the bandwagon and joined the rest of Mzansi's graduates.

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Taking to Twitter, @Mcloopz_ shared an inspirational post about becoming a graduate. Her heartwarming post included some snaps of herself in her cap and gown and even one of her folks standing beside her looking as proud as ever.

"Umsebenzi wethu," she captioned the heartwarming Twitter post.

Source: Briefly News