On 22 January 2026, at 3:19 a.m, when most of the people were either waking up or taking their deep sleep, some MUT staffers were having sleepless nights about how best to solve the registration delays; hunger being experienced by first year students trapped in queues, not wanting to go anywhere in case their turn comes while they are not in the queues, and most also worried about where the next plate would come from. That hour tells you everything you need to know about MUT. MUT cares about its students. However, it needs partners and strategic stakeholders to reach its dreams. There is a saying: “Show me your friends, and I will tell you who you are.” At MUT, partnerships are not transactional; they are relational, built on trust, consistency, and shared purpose. When the systems strain, as they often do in a township shaped by water shortages, load shedding, and recurring storms, the University does not retreat. It reaches out.
The email sent just after 3 a.m. by Mbali Mkhize, Senior Director, Marketing and Communications, was brief, grounded, and deeply human. It acknowledged Gift of the Givers’ ongoing relief work in flooded communities and then made a simple, urgent request: assistance with basic meals for 500 first-year students, many of whom had arrived days earlier and were still waiting to complete registration amid technical, water and energy disruptions. The message was not framed as entitlement, but as stewardship, recognising a long-standing partner’s values and aligning a student-centred need with a humanitarian mission.
That alignment is the essence of effective donor stewardship.
By 8:25 am, the response chain was already in motion. First from Rayhaan Muhammad Sooliman, Operations Director at Gift of the Givers, and son of Dr Imtiaaz Sooliman. No bureaucracy. No delays. Just clarity, coordination, and goodwill. The request was acknowledged, facilitated, and approved as soon as it landed because this relationship had already been nurtured over years of consistency, transparency, and mutual respect.
Gift of the Givers did not need convincing. They knew MUT. Thank you, Rayhaan Muhammad Sooliman, and the Founder of Gift of the Givers.