Rethabile Pitso
THE Vodacom Lesotho Foundation (VCLF) has awarded scholarships to two Centre for Accounting Studies (CAS) students as part of its inaugural Keketso Bula Scholarship Fund programme.
Kajeng Kotelo (22) from Mohale’s Hoek and Lineo Masitha (20) from Leribe District received full scholarships for their three-year Chartered Accounting Technician programmes.
According to Vodacom Lesotho (VCL) Communication and Foundation Specialist Thato Mochone, the scholarship was valued at M500 000 and honoured the memory of the telecommunications giant’s late employee Keketso Bula. A CAS alumnus, Mr Bula died in 2015.
“Keketso’s passion for helping others, mentoring future finance and accounting professionals, and his dedication to developing leaders of tomorrow has been the motivation for Vodacom Lesotho through the Vodacom Foundation to initiate the scholarship in his name. We are looking forward to carry on his legacy in partnership with the Centre for Accounting Studies,” said Ms Mochone.
“Renewable over three years on the basis of academic excellence, the scholarship will cover full tuition for the three-year duration, monthly living allowance and mentorship for the students.”
She said the Keketso Bula Scholarship Fund was meant to assist high performing students from disadvantaged backgrounds studying at the Maseru-based institute.
“The purpose of the scholarship is to assist students showing the potential to excel in their studies at CAS but lack the financial resources to pursue their studies,” Ms Mochone said.
“Kotelo and Masitha were awarded the scholarship based on their excellent academic performances. They were also selected because of their disadvantaged backgrounds. Kotelo is a double orphan while Masitha was raised by a single parent.”
She said the best performing second-year students also stood a chance to benefit from the scholarship.
“In addition to the two full scholarships, the Vodacom Lesotho Foundation will also make available four partial scholarships to second-year students who performed well, but who are unable to continue with their studies due to disadvantaged backgrounds. Applications for these four placements will open on 1 August 2016.”
Ms Mochone stressed the initiative was part of VCLF’s strategies to improve the lives of Basotho.
“The Vodacom Lesotho Foundation, through the BULA scholarship, aims to inspire, reward, and support academic excellence and community-changing leadership while lessening the financial burden on the most vulnerable members of society,” she said.
“VCL has long been committed to connecting Basotho, creating opportunities and changing lives for the better. We strongly believe that a healthy and well-educated society can better drive the development of this country.”
Commenting on the gesture, CAS Registrar Motlatsi Ntsala said they were immensely grateful to VCL for giving back to the community.
“We sincerely appreciate VCL’s initiative to plough back into the education industry. We are especially happy they decided to honour one of our former students through this programme,” he said.
“VCL’s support will go a long way towards achieving one of the goals in the Vision 2020 of producing highly-skilled workers to ensure Lesotho becomes a high-income economy.”
For her part, Ms Masitha expressed gratitude to the telecommunications giant for being chosen among her peers as a beneficiary of the scholarship.
“All the top 20 best performing students were called for an interview a few days ago, and I am happy to have made the cut,” she said.
“I promise to maximise the opportunity I have been given to the best of my ability by applying myself to my studies.”