For about a decade, MUT has been a recipient and a responsible steward of Gift of the Givers’ humanitarian aid. When storms battered Umlazi and surrounding areas as far back as 2017, they were there with relief. When a computer laboratory was destroyed after the 2018 floods, they stepped in with replacement computers, protecting students’ access to learning. When water insecurity became a recurring reality in MUT’s main campus, they installed a 400,000-litre water tank, an infrastructure intervention with lasting impact, not a once-off gesture.
And then came 2020: Some parents lost jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic and could no longer support their children. When the world closed its doors, Gift of the Givers opened theirs wider. Since then, every single month, over 500 MUT students have quietly and consistently, received food parcels. No cameras. No conditions. Just sustained humanitarian commitment woven into the fabric of the University’s student support ecosystem.
Zama Sishi, Director: Stakeholder Relations, said, “That is what strategic stakeholder relations look like in practice. Not episodic giving, but long-term partnership. Not reactive charity, but proactive impact. Not a donor on the sidelines, but a collaborator embedded in the student success value chain.”
Back to the present moment, the logistics were quickly clarified: supper preferred between 6 and 7 pm, lunch if feasible, a main contact person identified, and a supported organisation ready to facilitate delivery. These are the small operational details that, when handled with trust, turn an email into nourishment, and goodwill into lived experience.
And perhaps that is MUT’s truest brand promise: that its values are visible at 3:19 am. Its partnerships are tested in moments of need. And its friends say everything about who it is.