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S P I R I T

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S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

One of the building projects Samukelisiwe is involved in

is already on her way to shaking up the world. She

makes it clear that women are now ready to take up

their rightful place in sectors previously dominated by

men. “I chose Building because now there are a lot of

women-empowering initiatives in this sector. There is

change in the balance of job opportunities,” she said.

As a student, Samukelisiwe resolved to do the best

she could, not just be one of the numbers. “I felt I

had to do well. I felt no one would do it for me,” she

said. She felt that her good performance would push

the door open so that other women coming after her

would find it easy to break into the ‘men’s world’. “I

studied with my friend, Ayanda Mkhize, who also did

very well in her exams,” she added.

Key to Samukelisiwe’ success is her drive. “You have

to have self-discipline. I had to put a lot of effort into

my studies. I was inspired by the fact that women had

been looked down upon. I wanted to show everyone

that there is no difference between men and women.

There are no limitations imposed by gender.”

Samukelisiwe is pursuing her dream to be a

businesswoman in the construction industry. She

already has a company that she owns with Cebile,

her 20-year-old sister, called S&C Developers. “We

do delivery for suppliers. At the moment there are just

the two of us. We are also both interested in livestock

farming, and farming in general. We want to do animal

farming, particularly pig farming. And goat farming. We

will use our father’s land,” she said. Samukelisiwe’s

chances of succeeding in this area are big; her mother

is also a farmer.

Samukelisiwe is also employed by Figgup General

Trading, a company where she did her work-

integrated learning (WIL), which does water pipelines

and earthworks. On top of that, she does paperwork

for her father’s company, Sinethando Construction.

Management Sciences awardee attributes success to family

Slungile Mkhize has received the Vice-

Chancellor’s Award for the top student

in the Faculty of Management Sciences.

“My family inspired me to excel. I come

from a very strict family. By strict I

mean ‘old school’ as they still believe

that when a girl goes to university, she

will eventually meet friends who will

mislead her and she may even end up

falling pregnant. So I had to invest hours

and spend sleepless nights in order to

prove to them that I honestly went to

university to be a better person tomorrow, not only for

me but for them too,” said Slungile, who graduated

with a Diploma in Human Resources Management.

The secret to her success is simple: time management.

She learnt early on that if she was to succeed, she would

have to manage the amount of time she spent with her

friends, or at least surround herself with good friends.

“I had to surround myself with the right people – not

only my friends, but also being able to socialise with

other classmates and form group

discussions with them,” said Slungile.

Her path to MUT was not a straight

line. Unlike her peers, she joined MUT

after two gap-years. “It was not easy at

first to get my mind used to the idea of

‘learning’ again,” she admitted. “It was

not easy to share a class with students

who had recently matriculated,

students who studied from privileged

schools, and multiracial schools.”

Besides having to re-orientate herself to being back in

the classroom with fellow students, Slungile also had to

contend with financial difficulties and the temptations

that come with being a student. “I had to remind myself

of who I was, where I came from and what my values

were. Of course, that came with surrounding myself

with people who challenged how I thought, and those

are the people that contributed significantly towards

my academic excellence,” she said.

Slungile Mkhize

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