‘Failing matric is just a temporary setback. It is not a determiner of who you should be after that.”

Those are the words of Dr Sanele Gamede, an award-winning life and career coach and founder of the #MatricUngazibulali campaign, which seeks to combat thoughts and acts of suicide by matric candidates who fail the exams or do not get expected results.

Gamede spoke to DM168 after the release of matric results on 20 January.

Gamede himself repeated his matric exams twice.  When he wrote matric the first time around in 2007, he got dismal marks that would not enable him to study further.  He decided to not just redo matric, but the entire Further Education and Training phase (grades 10 to 12) at his former school  in order to have a second chance at boosting his grades.

Born and bred in Umhlabuyalingana, deep in the countryside of KwaZulu-Natal, Gamede says educational aspirations were present when he did matric for the first time, but they were not emphasised.

“I aspired to be educated because my parents had taught me that education is the key to success. For some reason, I wanted to be in the media space. The interest stemmed from seeing my brother, who was a photographer and videographer.

“But my education journey was blind, because the schools were underresourced and didn’t have mentorship or any career coaching. As a result, we saw this education thing far from us.”

As a result of these circumstances, he says, he performed “dismally” when he first attempted matric.

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He told DM168 that going back to school was no easy decision but was the only way he could break away from a life of poverty, unemployment or hard labour, such as working on farms or in supermarkets.

“It’s one thing to decide to go back and another to just upgrade your subject marks. It’s another thing to then follow through with the decision you make. It was extremely challenging for me when I went back to school after failing my matric to start from Grade 10.

 “I went there without even a school uniform. I was wearing a shirt and a pair of trousers that used to belong to my father. The students thought I was a life science teacher since the former teacher had left.

“I remember getting to the assembly point where everyone else had gathered and stood next to my fellow learners as part of them. They all looked at me like I was crazy. After that, the bullying began. I was the laughingstock for some time,” recalls Gamede.

“At home and in the community, people also did not understand the choice I had made. My peers and friends were also not so supportive of the idea. In class, there were certain expectations that I had to be an adult and possibly know some of the stuff in the curriculum. On the other hand, resources were very scarce at school. We had to share a textbook in a group of six people. Sometimes a member of the group would go home with the textbook and was then absent from school for long periods, which meant falling behind academically.

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“At home, going back meant financial constraints. But I persevered because I had made up my mind. What kept me going was that I had painted why I was doing this strongly… What mattered was my [determination] to pass matric and go to tertiary.”

Gamede did his second matric in 2010 and obtained a bachelor’s pass, which made him eligible for further study. At the University of KwaZulu-Natal he obtained an undergraduate degree, then a postgraduate one. Then he completed his doctorate in media and cultural studies.

Fulfilling a dream

Gamede says of his 2010 exam that a part of him expected to do better but qualifying for tertiary learning was the goal.

“On the day the results were due to come out in 2011, I couldn’t sleep. This time was different because it was not all about completing school but fulfilling my dream of getting to tertiary and the beginning of the rest of my life. That’s why I always advise matric candidates who haven’t achieved what they have hoped for to always remember their initial goals, which is usually the foundation of going forward after failure. It gives you a lead on what you ought to do.”

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Gamede says matric candidates are often under a lot of pressure to perform well and this brings anxiety and depression. Often, when candidates do not perform well they do not cope well with the news and resort to drastic action, such as suicide.

Using his example of doing grades 10, 11 and 12 twice, but never giving up or killing himself, Gamede set up the #MatricUngazibulali Campaign in 2019. Ungazibulali means “don’t kill yourself”. The aim is to provide support and guidance.

The campaign has gone national, with “ambassadors” across the country to help those in need. A support group can be accessed on various social media platforms.

Gamede urges parents to support their children and not to try to live out their dreams through their children.

“We ask parents not to try to force success on children because it might cause anxiety and depression. Young people also need mentorship and career guidance to shape a way forward.” DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.