When Stellenbosch University (SU) fifth-year medical student Abdul-Mutakbir Aziz was 17 and attending school in Cape Town, an evening spent job-shadowing a doctor in a hospital was the turning point at which he decided he was going to study medicine.

“I did a night call with the doctor who performed an emergency C-section on a woman and there were complications. The doctor – with me in tow – stayed up all night resuscitating this struggling baby. I decided I wanted to do this job and make a difference – to fight for people when they couldn't fight for themselves," Aziz, who grew up in Rondebosch East, said in an interview.

Aziz is one of the recipients of this year's annual SU Rectors' Awards for Excellent Achievement. The awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of students in the areas of academics, sport, leadership, social impact, culture and service provision. He received the award in the Service Provision category.

Aziz, who has been a member of the Tygerberg Student Representative Council (2020/2021), was also chairperson of the Tygerberg Academic Affairs Council (2019–2020). He has been both a class representative and a vice class representative for three consecutive years.

It was in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 that Aziz's leadership skills and commitment to humanity came to the fore. When Stellenbosch University announced an early recess in response to government directives around the pandemic, he sprang into action as a natural coordinator of hundreds of students from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences who opted to give up their recess to do what was needed to help in the pandemic.

Aziz represented students in discussions with the heads of the FMHS and Tygerberg Hospital that served as the beginning of a historical collaboration which saw up to 600 students volunteering at Tygerberg and Victoria Hospital and in the Western Cape Department of Health in almost every sphere of fighting Covid-19 – from contact tracing to hotline management, information awareness and mask production to vaccination work.

The selfless, well-coordinated contributions of the students featured in a number of published news articles and interviews and Aziz was hailed for his leadership in this role.

“When Covid-19 arrived, I saw an opportunity as a student to make a difference as the health services were overburdened. I wanted to be that doctor I saw when I was 17," said Aziz, adding that he feels “honoured and overwhelmed" to receive a Rector's Award.

Next year he will do his final year of medicine, after which he intends specialising in emergency medicine, “because I want to have the opportunity to help people in an acute care setting."

Click here to read more about the Rector's Awards and​ recipients. 

*A total of 82 top Stellenbosch University (SU) students were recently honoured with Rector's Awards for excellence in academics, leadership, social impact, culture, sport and service provision. During the next few weeks, we will feature some of the winners.