Dliwayo will be remembered for overseeing the future of thousands of children in Soweto after spending more than 40 years in the education sector. He started off his career as a teacher and helped to fund his pupils’ education, before becoming the chairman of Orlando Pirates and developing it into one of the biggest clubs on the continent. He was also the founder of the first black-owned, low-cost private schools; DD Dliwayo Primary School and DD Dliwayo Senior Primary School.
Speaking to Sowetan just after his 95th birthday in 2021, Dliwayo said that he and renowned mathematician and educator Thamsanqa Kambule founded the Rand Bursary Fund in the late 1960s to raise funds for students to further their studies.
“This bursary ran until the late 1970s and helped thousands of children to obtain an education. In some instances, we were able to fund tertiary education for hundreds of children who could not afford it,” he said.
The bursary was inspired by his own struggles with obtaining higher education due to the lack of funding.
“I did not have anything and could not pay the fees, but I was always in the top three of students who performed well. After finishing my course at Lemena Training College, I caught a train and did not know its destination, but it landed in Johannesburg.
“At the time, I did not know where I was – I just found myself in an urban area where I spent a few nights without having a place to sleep or food to eat,” he recalled before revealing that he used his first salary as a teacher to pay the fees he owed.
“When I got my first job, I still owed school fees, so my salary was garnished until my fees were fully paid up. It was hard to accept because I wasn’t earning much.”
Dliwayo's funeral service will be held on Friday in Mondeor, south of Johannesburg. He will be laid to rest at the Nasrec Memorial Park.
SowetanLIVE
DD Dliwayo dies just a year before his 100th birthday
Image: Ziphozonke Lushaba
Veteran educator and Sowetan community builder, Donald Daniel Dliwayo, has passed away – just one year before turning 100.
Affectionately known as DD, he died last week at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, after being in the ICU for six weeks due to a pneumonia infection.
Dliwayo will be remembered for overseeing the future of thousands of children in Soweto after spending more than 40 years in the education sector. He started off his career as a teacher and helped to fund his pupils’ education, before becoming the chairman of Orlando Pirates and developing it into one of the biggest clubs on the continent. He was also the founder of the first black-owned, low-cost private schools; DD Dliwayo Primary School and DD Dliwayo Senior Primary School.
Speaking to Sowetan just after his 95th birthday in 2021, Dliwayo said that he and renowned mathematician and educator Thamsanqa Kambule founded the Rand Bursary Fund in the late 1960s to raise funds for students to further their studies.
“This bursary ran until the late 1970s and helped thousands of children to obtain an education. In some instances, we were able to fund tertiary education for hundreds of children who could not afford it,” he said.
The bursary was inspired by his own struggles with obtaining higher education due to the lack of funding.
“I did not have anything and could not pay the fees, but I was always in the top three of students who performed well. After finishing my course at Lemena Training College, I caught a train and did not know its destination, but it landed in Johannesburg.
“At the time, I did not know where I was – I just found myself in an urban area where I spent a few nights without having a place to sleep or food to eat,” he recalled before revealing that he used his first salary as a teacher to pay the fees he owed.
“When I got my first job, I still owed school fees, so my salary was garnished until my fees were fully paid up. It was hard to accept because I wasn’t earning much.”
Dliwayo's funeral service will be held on Friday in Mondeor, south of Johannesburg. He will be laid to rest at the Nasrec Memorial Park.
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