Ten seconds of chance that changed everything

On a freezing winter morning in July 2015, while most teenagers were still asleep, Rebaone Notoane’s life took a dramatic turn.

“It was around 6am when I received that call, and I was deep in the blanket,” she recalls.

On the other end of the line was her Setswana teacher with urgent news: the Premier was coming to Khudutlong to launch the Setsokotsane bursary scheme.

Rebaone was to be part of it, the first ambassador of the programme.

“She said, ‘Wake up, the premier is coming to Khudutlong to launch Setsokotsane.,”

Still young, still uncertain, but already bold, Notoane asked her cousin to accompany her to the event.

She had no idea that this ordinary decision would place her at the centre of an extraordinary moment.

At the event, her attention was immediately captured by the Motsweding FM outside broadcast van. Even more exciting was the presence of her favourite presenter, Lindiwe Modise.

“I waited. The first thing that caught my attention was the Motsweding van. My cousin was like, “I am too ambitious because I told her I wanted to get in there,” she recalled.

She said pupils were not allowed inside the van. An hour passed. Then two.

“The last option I had was to cry,” she remembered.

But ambition does not easily retreat. Notoane held onto hope. And then a breakthrough. “Modise allowed me in.”

She said what happened next sounded like something from a film script.

Lindiwe Modise went on an ad break and gave the young woman a challenge: ten seconds to “sell herself” live on radio.

“She gave me 10 seconds to sell myself, and I sold myself like my life depended on those ten seconds. It only took 10 seconds for my life to change entirely.”

In those few seconds, she spoke with intention and clarity. “While I was selling myself, I convinced the listeners that all I want to do is to go to school and change my life and change the situation back home, and I was very intentional about all I said.”

Her words did not fall on deaf ears. Two businessmen who were inside the OB van were moved. They immediately offered to sponsor her matric dance. Then they offered something even more meaningful, a weekend away before her exams to help her prepare mentally.

“I was still digesting that, and before I could even breathe…” she said.

And then came another surprise. The former North West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo, walked in; he had left the stage after hearing the young voice on the radio.

“He told me that he had to leave the stage to see the little voice speaking on the radio,” she said.

He asked her to write down her full name on a piece of paper.

“He was giving me a bursary to go and study.”

That was the moment her future shifted.

“Even today I still don’t know how I got to that moment. There is nothing that will convince me that God is not there. God is always there, and God is very intentional. You just need to know what you want, and you need to set your mind to it,” Notoane said.

She said she did not waste the opportunity.

She became one of the top candidates in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District and went on to study a Bachelor of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Her studies were funded through the North West Province’s bursary programme, later renamed the Victor Thebe Sifora Provincial Bursary Scheme in 2022.

 According to the office of the premier, since its establishment, the scheme has awarded approximately 4,870 bursaries worth R405 million to qualifying learners across the province.

 The office further said for the 2025 academic year alone, 161 beneficiaries received funding.

 Notoane, together with other graduates funded through the scheme, was hosted by the North West Premier, Lazarus Mokgosi, on Tuesday.