There are those who believe in us and can see the things we are capable of achieving even when we can’t. To well-known eNCA reporter Monique Mortlock, those are her family and Stellenbosch University (SU).
Mortlock knew from a young age that she wanted to become a journalist and tell people’s stories.
“Never once did I think as a child that I could not achieve that dream,” she said. “My parents always instilled in us that you can do whatever you set your mind to. I get my work ethic from my mom, and my love for drama and talking from my dad. I just always wanted to make them proud.”
She also knew that she wanted to make her dream a reality at SU. “I always wanted to go there. Ever since I was a child, my mom would take me to their open days. Walking around on campus, I thought this was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. The students all looked so happy congregating on the lawn and on the Rooiplein.”
She remembers taking the train to Stellenbosch with her mother as if it were yesterday. “We’d walk the distance from the train station to the campus. I’ll never forget it. She sacrificed so much. She would even take off from work to take me there. It was all because she saw the potential in me and wanted to keep feeding those dreams and desires.”
Then, in her grade 11 and 12 years at Bernadino Heights High School, her SU dream started gaining traction. Mortlock was accepted into the Rachel’s Angels mentorship programme, a Stellenbosch-based initiative that prepares learners from underprivileged communities for the challenges of tertiary studies.
“That was my first taste of what it would be like to be a student at Stellenbosch,” says Mortlock. “I tagged along to class with my mentor. She was studying business, which I wasn’t really interested in, but it just excited me so much. I remembered thinking: ‘One day, I will also be sitting in a lecture room like this one.’ And I knew then that this is where I wanted to be.”
Eventually, a recruitment bursary enabled her to enrol at SU in 2010, and she went on to obtain the degree BDram in 2012 and a BPhil in Journalism in 2014.
“During my time at Stellenbosch, I forged lifelong friendships with people from different backgrounds and with different perspectives, who opened my eyes to a world much bigger than Kraaifontein, which is where I came from,”
Mortlock says. “Stellenbosch fed my hunger to explore more of the world, more of the country, and to get to know more people. “We used to talk about the big things we were going to achieve while we were waiting for a class to start. At Stellenbosch, you just felt that anything was possible!”
Today, Mortlock is a regular on our television screens, flitting confidently from one breaking and history-making news story to another. Her immaculate script-writing and voice control skills honed in drama class are on full display.
Before joining eNCA, she paid her dues as a journalist at the Media24 magazine Kuier and as a reporter for Eyewitness News. In 2017, she scooped the Vodacom Young Journalist of the Year award.
But, away from the limelight, in her quiet moments, she would always remember her mother and how they walked from Stellenbosch station to the University, where she first discovered that the world was hers for the taking.
“At Stellenbosch, you just felt that anything was possible!”
- Writer: Daniel Bugan
- Matieland is Stellenbosch University’s biennial marketing magazine. This full-color publication is a reflection of the university’s vision to be a leading research-intensive institution on the African continent, globally recognised as excellent, inclusive, and innovative, and where knowledge is advanced in service of society. Available in both English and Afrikaans, and in both print and digital format, Matieland showcases the latest developments and accomplishments of the university’s faculty, staff, and students. Read more here:
https://console.virtualpaper.com/stellenbosch-university/matieland_dec22_eng/
