ONKGOPOTSE Tiro's legacy is being kept alive through the University of Limpopo's Annual Benefit Gala Dinner at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Gauteng, on Friday.

ONKGOPOTSE Tiro's legacy is being kept alive through the University of Limpopo's Annual Benefit Gala Dinner at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Gauteng, on Friday.

Coinciding with the Onkgopotse Tiro Excellence Awards and the official launch of the university's alumni, the event will pay tribute to Tiro, an unflinching black consciousness movement adherent who was the students' representative council president in his final year when he delivered a speech that sharply criticised the Bantu Education Act of 1953 at the university's graduation ceremony in 1972.

The Onkgopotse Tiro Excellence Awards are awarded in recognition of outstanding achievers associated with the University of Limpopo.

A healthy relationship between any university's leadership and its alumni helps the institution in many ways, including financially.

Underprivileged students are benefitting from the university's Students Financial Aid Trust set up by the university's students representative council of 1995 to 1996.

The university, which was formed out of a merger between the University of the North and Medical University of South Africa in January 2005, supports the Students Financial Aid Trust.

The trust, which was established by the students representative council in the 1990s to provide financial assistance for underprivileged students, has been awarding bursaries since 1999. It has so far awarded bursaries to more than 300 students at about R10000 each, amounting to about R2,9million. - Victor Mecoamere