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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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