Case Study

Selina lives in Ga- Mashashane village near Polokwane (Limpopo Province) with her mother Maria

and 2 siblings named Sipho aged 7 and Molly aged 2. Her mother is unemployed and the family

depends on Sipho & Molly’s social grants and casual work that her mother sometimes gets.

Selina is in grade 12 at Kgomo High School. The school was fortunate to get free wifi and 10

computers donated by Telkom as part of their Corporate Social Initiative (CSI). Mr Moloto (school

principal) urged students to use the computers for their school-work and to search and apply for

bursaries and institutions they would like to study at. Selina being determined and motivated to

change her situations at home. She used the computer lab to find out universities, bursaries that she

can apply at, while her classmates were busy joining facebook and the likes.

Selina applied to University of Johannesburg, University of Pretoria and Wits with the help of her

Maths teacher Mrs Modipa. She researched on different courses offered at the different universities.

She also applied for Telkom Bursary, she found a website for an organisation called Rural Education

Access Programme (REAP) and called and they sent her an application form as she was from a rural

area and was performing well academically. She also applied for NSFAS.

Selina waited patiently and the 3 University replied with an acceptance letter, She chose Wits and

she also received positive responses from Telkom, REAP and NSFAS. She chose REAP because the

programme focuses on academic, social and emotional development of rural students.

She is currently studying her LLB at Wits and is very grateful to Telkom, REAP, her teachers and her

family for believing in her. She plans to look for internships onl ine at Law Firms and government

departments when she is in her third year. Although, she has now joined Facebook, she uses it to

communicate with other law students on campus as a tool to help her with her studies – they

discuss past papers, assignments and information on workshops or seminars presented by law firms.

She has also joined linked-in and is learning a lot from the law professionals on her page. She is using

the information she gets to put it on her blog for everyone to read.

Group Work

1. What are the benefits of social media in the case study?

2. Can you name the benefits of social media in your own life?

( ? Minutes)