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Dr TT Poswa, HOD,

Environmental Health

As a pastor, this lockdown has emboldened me to become

more resolute about my faith. I have spent days selecting

verses from the Bible that will console those suffering during

this time and bring more people closer to our Lord. There has

been more focus on praying for the nation using communal

prayer over personal prayer, using prayer as a weapon for all

humankind to approach Him. In my live-stream services, I have

said that we must forget about our divisions and camps; let us

all pray as a nation and work together to find a lasting solution.

This disastrous situation is making us forget our self-interests

and look at our interests as a nation.

Amid lockdown, USSA Champ continues training

The residents of Glencoe, a small mining town near

Dundee in northern KwaZulu-Natal, recently got

used to a familiar sight of one Sandile Dlamini (22),

a second-year Accounting student, running on the

street every day, including the weekends. This was

part of his training schedule as he prepared for the

next major challenges in his boxing career. Sandile,

like all other MUT students, had to leave the University

after the national state of disaster was declared and

students were sent home to limit the spread of the

coronavirus.

Sandile became the USSA Boxing Champion in the

56kg category in Mpumalanga in December 2019

and is currently preparing for the Zone Four Games in

Botswana in June, followed by another one in the US

in December this year – provided they go ahead, given

the COVID-19 outbreak.

Refusing to lose ground during the lockdown, Sandile

is still training hard, albeit differently. “I do physical

training from Monday to Fridays. On Thursdays and

Fridays I do workouts that is boxing, punching bag,

pad work, and sparring. What I am preparing for is

an opportunity of a lifetime that does not fall onto

anybody’s lap,” he said.

Sandile added that he was mentally strong enough

to deal with the uncertainty that comes with the

coronavirus. He said he draws strength from

motivational speaker, Eric Thomas, who said that it is

better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have

one, than to have an opportunity but not be prepared

for it. The highly disciplined Sandile heard Eric saying

this while he was doing Grade 12, in 2017.

At the moment Sandile is under the guidance of his

former mentors Nkosinathi Hlatshwayo and Nkosinathi

Thusi, as he is forced to live away from his MUT

trainer Nkosinathi Mkhaliphi, who lives in Mtubatuba,

northern KwaZulu-Natal, and coach Sifiso Ngiba, who

lives in Durban. Hlatshwayo and Thusi are very proud

of his achievements. Sandile has been boxing for 11

years.

Sandile Dlamini, right, and his trainer, Nkosinathi Mkhaliphi

showing off the trophy and medal Sandile won at the 2019

USSA Games

Dr Thobile Poswa

M U T

S P I R I T

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