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Law graduate awarded Chancellor’s Medal
25 April
Ms Megan Labuschagne, who recently graduated with an LLB degree from the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria (UP), was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal, the Adams & Adams Prize, the Grotius Medal, the Harold Galasko Prize, the LexisLexis Prize, the PPS Prize and the SA Society for Labour Law Award.
For Ms Labuschagne, her graduation day was indeed a proud moment, ‘It was an honour to be able to wear the gown and the hood and to show my parents that I am grateful for the opportunity they have given me,’ she says.
Ms Labuschagne is currently busy with her articles at Van Zyl le Roux (VZLR) Inc and says that being a Tuks student has been a pleasure and a privilege. ‘Tuks, and especially the Faculty of Law, always supports its students. I am proud to be graduating from a faculty that strives to improve academic freedom and that promotes innovative thinking, integrity, accountability and social justice. Benjamin Franklin once said that if you teach a student he will remember, but if you involve the student he will learn. This could easily be attributed to the Faculty of Law at UP,’ she says.
Ms Labuschagne aspires to be an admitted attorney and to do a master’s degree in tax law or commercial law. She does not believe that there is a single formula for success. ‘One must always remember that success is not final and failure is not fatal,’ she says. She explains that from an early age she was taught the importance of the five Ps: ‘proper preparation prevents poor performance’.
Ms Labuschagne lives by a quote from the Harry Potter book series by JK Rowling: ‘Happiness can be found even in the darkest of places if only one remembers to turn on the light.’ She hopes that her qualification will enable her to contribute towards enhancing respect for the rule of law in South Africa.
– Author Mikateko Mbambo