Comedian Lasizwe Dambuza has achieved his goal of raising a whopping R1 million towards student fees, in 5 days. With the help of his friends Sibu Mabena, Takkies Dinwiddy and King Aya, they created a crowdfunding initiative called #R10GoesALongWay, and it definitely did.
The goal was to raise a million to assist students struggling to pay their registration fees by March 17. On Tuesday, they reached the half a million mark, and in a matter of 24 hours, the ultimate goals was achieved. This idea came about after the Wits protests took place, which saw a life being cut short.
The YouTuber started off by pledging R10 000 and to his surprise, major companies started contributing and he is beyond grateful. These companies include Pick n Pay who contributed R10 000, Chivas Regal gave an amount of R25 000, African Bank donated R10 000 including 10 laptops to students, Clyrofor SA donated R39 000 and KFC gave away R50 000, this was also to mark their 50th birthday milestone.
A few of the celebrities contributed towards the cause as well, and these include Jessica Nkosi who donated R10 000 and Sarah Langa who contributed an amount of R20 000.
Thanking every one who contributed, including ordinary citizens who paid as little as R10, he took to twitter and wrote, "I am so grateful to every single one of you who contributed to helping students with what they have been facing for years! How many years ago was #FeesMustFall and still no change, it’s always so beautiful when we come together #R10GoesALongWay."
After reaching the 1 million mark, this morning Lasizwe was in awe at the unity shown by people in helping students settle their registration fees, "WE DID IT JOE! We raised R1 000 000.00 for students to get registered in Universities in 5 days!!! We literally did it! Thank you to every single one of you who contributed R10 to this initiative. WE REALLY DID THAT!!"
WE DID IT JOE! We raised R1 000 000.00 for students to get registered in Universities in 5 days!!!
Lasizwe joins the few ZAlebs who put their money where their mouths are by not only tweeting about standing with students, but actually did something productive. Prince Kaybee took to the streets to protestwith the University Of Johannesburg students during the #NationalShutdown protests.
"I'm inspired by the level of courage shown by the students marching for free education, even when they are bullied, beaten and shot by the police, they kept fighting. All of us should take time to support their struggle in whatever way we can. Their pain is our pain!" he wrote.
AKA said he would not mind joining students to protest however he wants them to fight their own fight, but a few years ago he donated R100 000.
Others who lent their voices include, Multi-award-winning rapper Kwesta tweeted "Really it's stand up and get murdered! That's it. Now they'll get a minister to say some sh*t to distract us from the fact that they are out to silence us forever and the police are happy to oblige because what's an oath to the people when I have a gun. Siyaqedwa #witsprotest."
Boity Thulo said, "Black bodies mean absolutely nothing in this country." Black Coffee said, "As a country what can we do to assist students with fees...isn't there a way we can collectively create a fund to assist?"
