Showing resilience in the face of rolling blackouts, vandalism of school infrastructure and sporadic service delivery protests, the 2022 Eastern Cape matrics proved their mettle with a 4.2 percentage point increase in the pass rate.
Protests over water shortages in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality in the North West led to disruptions at five schools on the first day of the new academic year.
Born in Matatiele in the Eastern Cape, inmate Nomvuyiselo Mathandela, 44, recounted how as a school girl she would often lose pens, but never the red ones.