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- Well-known Cape Town magistrate, Vanya Botha, took the plunge and studied further on a part-time basis.
- This week she and her daughter graduated together.
- She said it was "hectic" but "wonderful".
- GOOD NEWS DAY IS BACK! News24 celebrates the people restoring pride in our country. Read their stories here.
Well-known Cape Town magistrate, Vanya Botha, graduated as a Master of Laws (LLM) with her daughter, Anya-Larissa, at Stellenbosch University this week.
According to the university, Botha had always wanted to tackle her LLM, but life "just happened".
When her daughter enrolled for the same course, she told her mother that it was possible to work and study, so she leapt at the chance to study again.
And, instead of taking the customary two to three years for students also working, the magistrate finished in a year.
Botha is a familiar face on the Bench of the Cape Town Regional Court.
She said:
Her husband agreed to take over cooking for the year to help clear the deck for her every day.
She and her daughter would talk about coursework on their walks which helped her through technological changes at the university since she last graduated.
"For the first time in my life, I had to write an online exam – and type my exam," she was quoted as saying in the university's graduation release.
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"It was wonderful to sit in the Ou Hoofgebou (Old Main Building), where I had been a starry-eyed young student more than 30 years ago, but this time with my daughter."
Anya-Larissa, who obtained her LLM degree cum laude, said: "It means a lot to me to have graduated with my mom. It has always been her dream to complete her LLM, and it feels amazing to know that I could have played a part in helping her realise her dream for a change."
