Remembering a legacy: Graduate’s emotional tribute to his grandmother

In Honour of Mother’s Day, a video of a university graduate has gone viral of him showing appreciation to his late grandmother at her workplace to pay homage for all her sacrifices.

Anthony Timoteus, 29, from Belville, said the video was taken in 2022 when he graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree in Education at the University of the Western Cape. 

But he only posted the video to social media on Wednesday evening.

The video, to the soundtrack of Wimpee’s Afrikaans rendition of "The Lord bless you and keep you", has received 1.8 million views and shows Timoteus walking through rubble dressed in his cap and gown as he surprises his grandmother Aletha Muller at work, who is overjoyed.

The two spend a moment hugging each other while his grandmother sheds tears of happiness as her colleagues look on. 

“The motivation behind the video was because my granny was hard working and never wanted to stay out of work as she was the breadwinner.

"So I decided to go to her place of work because she was the person who supported me financially during my time at university."

Timoteus is also an athlete and said he was on a sports bursary, which only covered his tuition fees and he was able to get accommodation with the help of his coach.

"I had to supply my own meals and that is where my grandmother helped me with a R100 every week to contribute to groceries with my roommates.

"She was consistent, her contribution was little but it meant a lot to me because I knew that she did not earn a lot of money but she helped me at a time when I needed it the most.

"She was also my motivation for not giving up and graduating was very rewarding especially to see her smile and tears of joy.”

Anthony said his grandmother passed away last year and he miss his "biggest cheerleader" a lot.

“I never had the opportunity to mourn her passing.

"That night I was going through the video on repeat and kept crying so I decided to post it and when I woke up the next morning the video blew up which I did not expect.

"I hope that my video and story will inspire the youth especially young men. With all the gender-based violence that is happening.

"The young men are losing their lives prematurely because that is the tactics of the enemy.”

Cape Argus