Tag: South Africa

South Africa has honoured the country’s first black student to graduate with a degree in engineering. Dr Solomon Boyce Isaac Lefakane studied civil engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and was awarded a degree in 1961 – when the racist apartheid system was in operation. Now, as part of the university’s centenary, Dr Lefakane, now 84, has been inducted into a brand new hall of fame at the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment. Dr Lefakane was the son of a domestic worker and gained a scholarship to pursue his studies. “I knew I was facing very heavy odds at the time and I worked as hard as I could,” he told the BBC’s Focus on Africa radio programme. Reflecting on his time there Dr Lefakane said he did not socialise with the white student...