Maria Freercks of Collegiate Girls’ High School in Gqeberha is the top 2025 matric achiever in the Eastern Cape. She placed second nationwide in the quintile 5 category. (Photo: Supplied / Rob Freercks) Matric NMB 
Two Nelson Mandela Bay pupils were part of the group that was honoured as the matric class of 2025 national top achievers, putting the metro and the Eastern Cape on the map.
Gqeberha’s Collegiate Girls’ High School pupil Maria Freercks placed second nationally among top-performing quintile 5 schools, while Sesona Masingili from Soqhayisa Senior Secondary School in Motherwell came third in accounting among quintile 1-3 schools.
Freercks was announced as the overall top achiever for the Eastern Cape Premier awards, taking first position, with the second and third positions taken by Clarendon High School pupils in East London, Danel Muller and Caroline Booysens.
Pearson High School pupil Yvonne Weitsz achieved first position in the cluster B category (a combination of districts in the province), Brandwag High School pupil Miga Preller second, and Masingili third. Collegiate’s Jennifer Friskin took top spot in the Nelson Mandela Bay district.
Summerstrand school Pearson High was named the top-performing school in the province, with 93.3% of its learners receiving a Bachelor’s pass.
The top achievers each received a package with a cash voucher of up to R10,000, a bursary, a travel bag, laptop, power bank, a tablet, a smart watch, a dictionary, a trophy and a certificate.
Collegiate achieved a 100% pass rate with a 99.23% Bachelor’s pass, while Soqhayisa achieved 99.6% pass rate.
Both schools are part of the top 50 best-performed in the province, with Collegiate taking second place.
The Nelson Mandela Bay district improved its performance by 0.7% from 86.7% in 2024 to 87.4% in 2025, making it the third best-performed in the province, while it achieved 44.54% Bachelor’s passes, a 0.66% decline from 2024.
Freercks said she was still in disbelief and overwhelmed by her results.
She achieved eight distinctions, seven for her NSC subjects and an additional distinction for further studies in mathematics in the Independent Examination Board (IEB) stream.
While her academic performance may imply relentless studying, Freercks credits her achievement to balance, community support and faith.
“I think primarily through the support of a lot of people around me. My parents for one, definitely the teachers at Collegiate Girls’ High School. But also my faith and trust in the Lord,” she said.
“When you have time to study, make the most of it… when you don’t enjoy what you’re doing. Don’t take your entire matric year for granted,” she said. “It’s important to involve yourself in other aspects of school life, not only academics.”
Freercks plans to study medicine at the University of Cape Town. Although open to studying abroad in future, she believes South African universities should not be underestimated.
“South African universities are very good at an international level. You aren’t necessarily going to find better education overseas,” she said.
Her mother, Lisa Freercks, said the family was “super proud”.
“She worked extremely hard. The Lord gave her amazing gifts, and she’s taken them and run with them. We’re super proud of her and excited for what her future holds,” she said.
Lisa’s advice to other parents is simple: trust your children and their schools.
“Believe in your children and trust that they know what they’re doing. Believe in the schooling system as well. We’re really grateful to Collegiate Girls’ High School and Collegiate Junior School for all the opportunities and amazing teachers Maria had.”
Speaking from the provincial government’s top achievers announcement ceremony at the East London ICC, Sesona Masingili said the achievement got him very emotional.
/file/attachments/orphans/Soqhayisa_443408.jpg "Soqhayisa Senior Secondary School pupil Sesona Masingili achieved third place in accounting nationally. (Photo: Facebook)")
He achieved seven distinctions, with an outstanding 100% for accounting.
“Studying during the year has been challenging, but it was made worse by the number of electricity outages we had in my area of NU13,” said Masingili.
“When power went off at night, I would have no choice but to sleep even though I still wanted to study. When I went for extra classes, I would have to return home early before it got dark. This was a real challenge, but I persevered because we don’t have the battery lamps at home, but I’m happy to have made it.”
Masingili has been accepted to study B.Com Accounting at the University of Pretoria.
His mother, Monica Masingili, said she hoped her son wouldn’t change and would always study hard as he spread his wings to achieve his life goals.
“I am very proud of him. I have seen him work hard throughout the year, attending morning and afternoon classes on weekends, and he never missed classes during the week. He studies so much that I would pity him, but we both knew it was necessary.”
She confirmed that power outages were the biggest hurdle, as the electricity supply failed for two days during examinations.
“He persevered and did very well, in spite of these challenges, and we supported him as much as we could as a family.” DM