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A differently abled learner from the class of 2025, Takunda Muchuweni, has defied the odds to be named among the country’s top 40 matric achievers, earning a place on the national stage despite living with muscular dystrophy.
The announcement comes at a time of intense national focus on education outcomes, as anticipation builds ahead of the official release of the 2025 matric results. Across the country, thousands of learners, parents and teachers are waiting anxiously for confirmation of performance that will shape futures and opportunities.
Against this backdrop, the Department of Basic Education hosted a ministerial breakfast for the country’s highest-performing learners. The event, held before the public release of results, brought together top achievers, education officials and political leaders under tight embargo, with names and marks still officially sealed.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube addressed the gathering, praising resilience, discipline and perseverance among the class of 2025. While details of individual results remain undisclosed, the presence of learners at the event confirmed they had already secured places among the nation’s best.
For Takunda Muchuweni, a learner at Jan Kriel School in the Western Cape, the moment was overwhelming. Speaking shortly after the event, she described the experience as unexpected and difficult to process.
“It feels very surreal. I really wasn’t expecting to get a call to be here today,” she said.
Her journey to that breakfast table was far from straightforward. As the pressure of matric intensified, so did the physical and emotional demands placed on her body. Like many learners, she faced the familiar stress of final exams, long hours of revision and the weight of expectations. Unlike most, she did so while managing chronic pain and progressive muscle weakness.
She described her final school year as one of the most challenging periods of her life.
“There is a lot of pressure because all of a sudden you’re in matric and everyone is expecting you to do well and to study, study, study,” she said.
Health complications added a constant layer of uncertainty. Writing examinations often meant sitting through two- or three-hour papers while in significant discomfort, a reality that tested her concentration, motivation and endurance.
“Sometimes I experience a lot of health problems. I was in pain, and that really influenced my studying and my mood,” she said.
Despite this, Muchuweni continued to show up, determined not to let her condition define her limits. She credits her resilience to years of preparation that began well before matric.
“All the preparation from Grade 10 and 11, all the way leading up to this moment, really means a lot,” she said.
Her strategy was simple but demanding: consistency, belief and perseverance.
“I just told myself, ‘I have to get through it. I have to believe where I started.’ Even if the outcome isn’t what I wanted, at least I’ve made it.”
Although learners at the breakfast have been informed that they are top achievers, their exact marks remain confidential until the official announcement. Muchuweni said she hopes to achieve four distinctions, though she stressed that simply being recognised at a national level already feels like a victory.
“Being here is already an achievement in itself,” she said.
Her academic portfolio includes Business Studies, Life Sciences and Tourism, alongside compulsory subjects English Home Language, Life Orientation, Occupational Studies and Mathematical Literacy. She plans to study psychology, a field she believes will allow her to give back to communities facing emotional and social challenges.
Behind her success is a long medical and educational journey that began in early childhood. Her mother, Tamari Muchuweni, said doctors only became concerned when her daughter began missing developmental milestones.
After numerous consultations and extensive testing at Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, Takunda was diagnosed with congenital myopathy, a condition that causes muscle weakness and affects mobility and stamina.
“It is a bag of emotions. You don’t know how to react,” her mother said.
“But she is my child. It doesn’t really change much.”
The diagnosis marked the beginning of years of physiotherapy, medical interventions and carefully structured schooling. Takunda started school at around three and a half years old and spent nine years at one institution that helped lay a strong academic foundation.
Later, she moved to Jan Kriel School, where teachers and support staff played a key role in accommodating her physical needs while maintaining high academic expectations.
“It has been a difficult journey because of her health,” her mother said.
She recalled a major surgery that kept Takunda hospitalised for a month, a period that could have disrupted her schooling permanently. Instead, she returned more determined than before.
Beyond the classroom, Takunda has already shown leadership and initiative. She became a junior counsellor in Cape Town and launched a community project focused on plastic recycling. The initiative earned her an award for best leadership project and is set to continue beyond her school years.
Her achievements come as the Independent Examinations Board announced an overall pass rate of 98.31% for the 2025 National Senior Certificate examinations, one of the highest in recent years.
Minister Gwarube is expected to formally announce the national results on Monday evening. When that moment arrives, the full picture of the class of 2025 will be revealed.
Only then will the country learn that among the top 40 achievers is a young woman who wrote exams through pain, overcame years of medical obstacles, and quietly secured her place among South Africa’s brightest minds.
