Stellenbosch twins celebrate graduation while honouring their mother's legacy
Twin sisters Clio and KD Sass graduated from Stellenbosch University on March 24, honouring their late mother whose studies were disrupted by apartheid.
Image: Supplied
When twin sisters Clio and KD Sass walked across the graduation stage at Stellenbosch University on March 24, they carried more than their own achievements, they honoured a mother whose dreams were cut short by apartheid.
More than four decades after Patricia Grace Rorich was forced to abandon her medical studies following her detention as an anti-apartheid activist, her daughters have now graduated from the same institution, marking a milestone shaped by sacrifice, resilience and a story that began long before them.
In the early 1980s, Rorich was a medical student when she was arrested for protesting against apartheid. After her release, she was told she could no longer continue with her MBChB degree at Stellenbosch University and had to switch to a BSc in dietetics, which she later completed, altering the course of her studies and career path.
Now, her daughters have returned to the same university under very different circumstances.
Clio earned a master’s degree in food science, awarded cum laude, while KD completed her BSc in mathematical sciences, specialising in biomathematics, last year. Their shared graduation is a deeply personal moment shaped by both achievement and loss. Their mother died of breast cancer when they were just three years old.
“When we walk across the stage, we don’t walk for ourselves alone,” Clio said. “We walk for the sacrifices our mother and father made, and for the sacrifices made by their parents and siblings before them.”
The twins grew up in Pinelands, raised by their father, Ernest Sass, and supported by a large extended family rooted in Elsies River. With their mother one of five siblings and their father one of nine, they describe a childhood grounded in community.
“As the saying goes, ‘it takes a village’,” Clio said. “Our aunties and uncles are like our second mothers and fathers.”
Despite losing their mother at a young age, her story remained central to their upbringing. The sisters only learned the full details of how her studies were disrupted when they were in Grade 11 and beginning to consider their own futures.
“When we heard it, we just knew that we had to come to Stellenbosch,” KD said. “Her story meant that we couldn’t succumb to a spirit of victimhood. Sometimes things don’t go as planned, but we can always grow forward if we strive forthrightly.”
That sense of purpose carried them through their studies, including moments of difficulty. KD’s academic journey, in particular, tested her resilience.
“My degree is typically completed in three years,” she said. “It took me six years and a Dean’s Concession to pass, but I made it.”
She added that she bought her graduation dress in 2024, the year she first believed she would complete her studies. “I’m very happy to now be wearing that dress for the first time for my graduation.”
For Clio, her chosen field created an unexpected connection to her mother’s academic path.
“It felt very full circle being in a similar field to what our mother studied,” she said.
There were also quieter moments that underscored how far things had changed. During apartheid, their mother was not allowed to live in residence and stayed with an uncle in Idas Valley. For KD, being able to live in a university residence brought a mix of gratitude and reflection.
“Walking to class and living in a residence which I knew my mom was not afforded just brings so much humility, sadness for her and for so many others, but overall gratitude,” she said.
Throughout their time at university, the twins leaned on one another. Living in nearby residences during their undergraduate years, they studied together, supported each other and shared moments of humour amid the pressure.
KD recalled knocking on Clio’s window at 5am before a gym session because she had run out of toothpaste. “She squeezed some into a zip-lock bag and told me to go buy toothpaste later,” she said.
Their bond extended beyond sisterhood into leadership, with both taking on roles in their respective residences. Clio served as primaria in the year she completed her food science degree.
Their father, who raised them after their mother’s passing, described their shared graduation as deeply meaningful.
“The fact that Clio and KD are graduating on the same day makes this occasion exceptionally special,” Ernest Sass said. “The sacrifices and uncertainties along the way were immense, and now, standing at this moment of their graduation, I am left speechless.”
He said the twins reflect many of their mother’s qualities, including her strength and quiet resolve. Throughout their childhood, he reminded them of her presence in simple ways.
“I used to tell them that the brightest star in the heavens is their mommy looking out for them,” he said.
Reflecting on the milestone, the sisters spoke about the absence that remains.
“It feels like there is a missing seat at our table without her,” KD said.
Yet her influence continues to shape their outlook. Reflecting on their mother’s middle name, Grace, the sisters said it captures the essence of how she lived.
“To live with grace is to show kindness, humility and goodwill,” Clio said. “Grace was not always given to my mother, yet she continued to give it freely to others.”
As they crossed the stage together, the Sass twins carried forward a story shaped by struggle, loss and resilience.