Four Pretoria graduates finally hold their degrees — R153,135 (about $9,000) cleared the last barrier

Lucinda Jacobs, Lusanda Kunene and Morongwa Manamela had done the hard part: they had passed their degrees at the University of Pretoria. What they could not do was collect their certificates, because unpaid fees stood in the way. At its annual Supplier Golf Day, SPAR North Rand and its partners handed over R153,135 (about $9,000) to the university's Degrees Delivered initiative, clearing the barrier for four graduates — a fourth, Savanah Jayne Wasley, could not attend — and adding R24,000 (about $1,400) each plus a year of monthly grocery vouchers for their first year of work. A certificate in hand is not paperwork; it is the key that starts a career.

SDG 4 · Quality education — Mechanism: funding & finance