She danced, sang and prayed. For a few moments, the entire Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU) and all the joy in the world belonged to Ntombizanele Beauty Tshona. Because, on a Thursday morning, with the winter sun smiling playfully through the rows of wattle trees, the 38-year-old Toto Tshona received his doctoral degree in Mathematics Education from the Faculty of Education.
Toto, who could not pass Mathematics in matric at the Borakanelo Secondary School in the small community of Khuma outside Stilfontein. He, who still walks around with the tattoos from his gangster past on his skin. He, who ran a small stall in Khuma to care for a young family, who scraped together R50 for evening classes while violence and poverty reigned around him, who improved his marks and was admitted to the NWU with a bursary, who started studying at the age of 24 and progressed to lecturer at the School for Mathematics, Science and Technology for Education. Toto, her son. Toto, Ntombizanele’s pride.
“My mother was beside herself with joy. She was ecstatic. I think I got my mathematics brain from her,” he says in the conference office of Building B10, his home away from home.
“My mother means so much to me. She is a single mom who worked in Rustenburg. I grew up in the streets of Khuma and I did not have a father. I have never seen him in my life.”
The infamous West Side gang from Khuma kept a very close eye on him though, and they recruited him into their ranks. A willing asset to their culture of misdemeanours. However, the West Sides quickly realised that Toto did not belong with them. “They saw something in me. They then paid my school fees and even paid for my football boots. I was told: ‘Young man, do not be like us. Be careful. Look at your books.’.”
That he did. He also helped young people in the community of Khuma with school work – a task that he still continues. “I also live in Khuma. It is where I come from. I have an obligation to make a difference there.”
At the NWU, his fast upward climb was noticed by professor Hercules Nieuwoudt – also the promotor for Toto’s doctorate – and he had found a mentor. “You are going to sit in my chair one day,” Nieuwoudt told him. A fortune teller, prof Niewoudt. Ten guesses where that chair is today …
In 2018, Toto married his beloved Brenda, who had been by his side for 15 years already at that stage. When he talks about his three children, Thandiwe, Botshelo and Simthandile, his smile curls around his ears. He promised himself that he will be the father that his father was not.
That is Toto. Toto, who proved that fate is not always cast in stone. That perseverance is crucial. That potential sometimes only needs a chance in order to grow. Anthon Makhaya Thshona, not only the pride of Ntombizanele. Also of Khuma.
Toto Tshona
