The chairperson of the National Lotteries Board, Prof Alfred Nevhutanda, and other role models from Nzhelele addressed pupils from their area last Saturday on how to become “champions” during what has become a role-modelling campaign aimed at producing successful people.

The professionals told pupils at the Nngweni High School how they had defeated the odds to become successful in life. They told pupils that they too could succeed if they worked hard, planned and stayed focused. The “role models” included engineers, businessmen and medical doctors from rural villages around the area, and all had a similar story to tell: "One can succeed despite one’s background".

About 540 pupils from different schools in the area were ferried to the venue. A workshop was later held to orientate pupils about various fields.

Nevhutanda said that when he was growing up under harsh conditions, he did not look at his background, but what he wanted to achieve. “Today, my story is a good lesson to you that, whatever your background, success follows hard work, just as day follows night,” he added.

He told them he had achieved everything while coming from an area just a stone’s throw from the place where the event was taking place.

Dr Eric Musekene, general manager of the South African Social Security Agency, received applause from pupils when he said he had been to 36 countries in the world to represent the government. “I am from Vuvha here in Nzhelele. The government pays for hard work,” he said.

The circuit manager of the Nzhelele West Circuit of Education, Mrs Ndifelani Nduvheni, praised the role models for assisting the pupils from the areas they hailed from. “Such efforts to assist pupils from disadvantaged communities are praiseworthy and will surely yield positive results,” she said.