Against the odds: Mfuleni, Cape Town’s class of 2025 aces matric amid crime and hardship

The achievement of matrics in Mfuleni, Cape Town, was revealed after Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube announced that the National Senior Certificate (NSC) pass rate countrywide had increased from 87.3% to 88%, while the Western Cape recorded an 88.2% pass rate, ranking fifth among the provinces. On 13 January 2025, learners arrived at their schools to collect their NSC statements, a day marked by both celebration and quiet disappointment as results were revealed.

Read more: Matric class of 2025 achieves unprecedented 88% pass rate

At Mfuleni Technical Academy, pupils flooded the school grounds singing and celebrating after the school achieved a 76% pass rate, an improvement on its 75% result in 2024. Less than a kilometre away, Manzomthombo Secondary School also celebrated, posting an 87% pass rate, up from 83% the previous year.

Yet these successes were achieved in one of the Western Cape’s most dangerous townships, where high murder and sexual offence rates have become part of daily life. Learners from both schools told Daily Maverick that studying under such conditions was an immense challenge.

Mfuleni recorded the highest number of murders countrywide, with 84 in 2024/25. In 2023/24, that figure stood at 58, a 44.8% increase. Mfuleni also reported the second-highest number of total crimes between July and September, with 1,927 reported crimes across the country, an increase of 11% compared with 2024’s 1,730 reported crimes.

Read more: How Mfuleni’s murder rate mirrors Western Cape’s increase, while much of the country declines

“We had to push, even though it was hard. The teachers gave us past papers to prepare and told us we should come to the morning classes and afternoon classes, and pushed us to be productive. However, we were always scared to come to school; an accident could happen while we are at school, or maybe our learners get shot right here at school… but we were always here. When a kid got shot, we were scared, but we had to stay to learn,” said Awodwa Nauyoma, a 2025 matric candidate from Mfuleni Technical Academy who achieved a Bachelor’s pass.

In July 2025, a Grade 10 pupil was shot dead outside the Mfuleni Technical Academy. Multiple shots were fired, striking his head and body. News24 reported that the murderer had been waiting for him outside the schoolyard.

Another candidate, Dali Vilakazi from Dunoon township, told Daily Maverick he often arrived late after using three modes of transport to reach Mfuleni for his exams. After achieving a Bachelor’s pass, Vilakazi expressed gratitude to his teachers and is awaiting a response from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

“The exams were fine for me. I was studying at home because I lived far; therefore, I could not meet with other classmates to study. The time was always an issue for me. To the issues happening in the area, there was nothing I could do; I was used to it. When others reached their homes, I was still on the road to my home,” said Vilakazi.

Mfuleni Technical Academy, which opened in 2021, is still finding its feet. Principal Simphiwe Kuze said the school relied heavily on support from neighbouring institutions, including Manzomthombo Secondary School and Bardale Secondary School, which achieved a 95.7% pass rate in 2025.

“We have Grade 12 teachers, and they are only teaching Grade 12 for the second year because they are young teachers with no experience at all, while other schools have experienced educators who go to marking; we only had two. We have a young group that is willing to learn,” said Kuze.

Kuze said collaboration would be the key to improvement. “We need to push pride away and go to other schools like Bardale. We have a reference point in Bardale, where we can say, How do you do this subject? How could you have improved the results from this level to that level? What did you do so that we can be able to learn?”

Top achievers with dreams

At Manzomthombo Secondary School, top achievers Paledi Mahlutshana and Amandla Yotho both scored over 80% in geography and history and are aiming high, with dreams of careers in medicine and engineering.

“I was recognised for achieving 97% in history. It was not easy to achieve, but my teacher encouraged us to never stop being curious. To better myself, I would prepare myself so that I can study all night, then go to take exams... I applied to various universities like Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) because I want to study medicine or astrophysics, and 80% of universities provided provisional offers. I am now awaiting an acceptance,” said Mahlutshana.

Yotho said he was proud of himself and had applied to UCT, Wits and the University of Pretoria (UP) to study engineering. “I had to be disciplined and limit myself from social media apps. I stuck to my schedule of studying until 2am. The geography teacher helped us a lot by using past papers. When I was studying, I really prayed, even for my safety,” said Yotho.

Manzomthombo principal Nomhle Bentele praised the class of 2025 for their commitment, despite the personal struggles many faced. “We gave support; we had Saturday classes and extra classes during the week. We grouped them according to their strengths. For this year, we have to add 5% and work hard for 91%.

“The learners that we have, most of them are staying alone, most of them have babies, some are using drugs, but we don’t discriminate against them. Instead, we support them. We let them come stay here, and then I cook. So we’ll continue [to support], and we will have to reflect where we’ve gone wrong, changing some people here and there, but we need to support each other.”

As the matric class of 2025 absorbs the reality of their results, many are now waiting anxiously for responses from universities, in the hope that their hard-won passes will open the door to the next chapter of their lives. DM