At the recent Women Entrepreneur Awards held at the Feather Market Centre, she won the youth category prize and received a R50 000 cash award.
This event, hosted by the department of rural development and agrarian reform, aims to support women entrepreneurs in evolving from small-scale to commercial farming.
Bongeka, who is originally from Port St Johns, started her farming journey in 2022 and now manages about 75 rabbits.
Despite challenges, such as balancing her studies and farming, she plans to use the prize money to improve her rabbit farming setup and potentially acquire a feeding machine.
Currently she mostly farms for consumption purposes but sometimes she uses the rabbit droppings for crops, and they also use the manure for gardening at the University, she said.
The awards, highlighted by MEC Nonceba Kontsiwe, focus on empowering women in agriculture, emphasising the transition from subsistence to commercial farming.
Ms Kontsiwe stressed the importance of supporting emerging female farmers and recognising their role in addressing poverty and unemployment.