Congratulations are for actor and presenter Thato Dithebe after the bubbly 23-year-old recently graduated with a BSc degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg.
The House of Zwide star took to his Instagram page to share his milestone achievement with his most loved and devoted followers.
In the caption of his post, he wrote: “Left an entertainer, came back an engineer. Cold.”
The picture attached to the announcement shows the young actor donning a slim-fitted sky-blue suit while celebrating the milestone achievement with a group of his close family members.
Ending of his caption he wrote: “For mumzy (accompanied by a heart).
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In an interview with local news and entertainment publication Sunday World, he applauded his mother for her role in supporting his ambitions.
Talking to the above-mentioned publication, he said: “This degree is dedicated to my mother. Growing up, I was a creative kid who wanted to do everything, from TV to dancing, to designing.
“All these things required a lot of time and money. So, my mom would always say that as long as my grades were good. She promised to be 100% behind me with everything else I wanted to do.”
While many in his comment section were curious to find out how he was able to balance his studies while having a full-time job as an actor, he later explained that juggling his life has never been much of a challenge.
“I have gotten used to the balancing. Also, a huge part of the credit has to go to my support system.
“My family, friends, and producers always understood that I had quite a bit on my plate. So they’d always cover for me. Sometimes when I would miss lectures, my friends would take notes for me. If it was exam season and I needed time off to study, my producers were always understanding,” he said.
Thato has been in the media industry for eight years now. His breakthrough came when he landed a gig as a presenter on SABC 1’s youth program YoTV. Later he made appearances on several other projects including Channel O’s lifestyle show GenZ, Black Tax as well as Unmarried before getting a role in House of Zwide.
Despite this he believed that studying engineering would be a good career to fall back on should anything happen in the future.
Also see: DJ Cleo graduates from WITS University
