From 30% to PhD: Dr Olwethu Waka’s mathematical journey equals success

Dr Olwethu Waka’s remarkable journey from a 30% math failure to earning a PhD in mathematics showcases the power of resilience, dedication, and unwavering determination despite numerous challenges and setbacks.

“I have never stopped trying despite my many disappointments.”

So said Dr Waka, 33, who graduated with a PhD in pure mathematics from the University of Cape Town (UCT) at the beginning of the month.

In 2008, while doing Grade 10, Waka failed maths after getting only 30%.

Through a dedicated Grade 11 maths teacher at Pakamani High in Butterworth in the Eastern Cape, he began his love for mathematics and got 89% in the subject in the final-year examinations of Grade 12 in 2010.

After matriculating, Waka who is from kwaNontshinga village in Centane, the Wild Coast, did not know what to study.

He went to Walter Sisulu University and registered for a diploma in chemical engineering, but failed his first-year modules and abandoned the programme.

He took a gap year in 2012.

Through the help of Jock McConnachie, the founder of the Nolali Education Centre, an NPO in the coastal village of Qolora in Centane, Waka applied to Rhodes University.

The centre bought Waka a laptop and after going through a foundation programme enrolled for a BSc – majoring in maths.

From there, he never looked back.

Waka graduated from the BSc programme and then pursued an honours degree at the university.

From Rhodes, he went to UCT for an MSc in mathematics, graduating with distinction, and then he registered for his PhD.

Waka, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of the Western Cape, told News24 getting a PhD “means that one is not a failure until they stop trying”.

He dedicated his achievement to his late father.

He said: “I’ve always said many times that my father is the single most influential person in my life. He loved education, and he was a founding member, along with other village leaders, of Siseko Junior Secondary in our village.

“That school was built by the funds the community raised. Given that my mother is illiterate, it was my father who helped me with homework when I was younger.

“My mother also deserves credit for being there with me in hard moments before and after my father’s passing,” said Waka.

He added conditions were tough during his early schooling years in rural Centane.

“The conditions were, and still are, poor in all the schools I attended, from Siseko Junior [KwaNontshinga], Tshongweni Junior [kwaNontshinga] and Pakamani High.

“I don’t think there’s any person who would like their children to go Siseko or Tshongweni except for those who have no choice, like us in our time. Those schools are just so underserviced and underdeveloped, but we still take pride.

“Similar situations were noticeable at Pakamani, for instance when we were in grades 10 and 11 we didn’t have textbooks. We relied on printouts or notes written on the blackboard.

“It was only in Grade 12 that we started sharing textbooks. For people who were doing sciences, we didn’t know practically what we were doing, and that’s actually why maths made more sense to me. It didn’t require any lab or scientific equipment.”