JOHANNESBURG — The 60-year-old beloved South African musician shows up five days a week to sit behind a scarred desk in a bare-bones classroom, studying for the high school diploma he missed when he dropped out to pursue a career in rock, funk, soul and jazz. And Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse wants the faith he is showing in learning to inspire a battered community.
Returning to school “is for me. But it’s not about me,” Mabuse said in an interview in his Soweto home.
Mabuse said some of his friends and fellow musicians were baffled when he told them he was going back to school for what is known here as a National Senior Certificate, or, more commonly, a matric.
With his money, Mabuse could have hired a tutor to get him through exams. With his connections, he could have found a university to take him on as a researcher. Instead, he’s enrolled in classes offered to adults.
Japie Masombuka, who runs the adult education program at Thaba-Jabula Secondary School, said he asked his most famous student to give a motivational talk one afternoon. To Masombuka’s surprise, even students who were habitually late to class or often skipped class showed up, and now many are more responsible.
One of Mabuse’s classmates, Nikiwe Mpande, 27, left high school to take a secretarial course and start work. She said the lack of a matric was keeping her from getting promotions, but she didn’t consider returning to school until she heard about Mabuse.
He has shown her that “you’re never too old to actually finish school.”
