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MBABANE – “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
These inspiring words came from Anele ‘Mumu’ Dlamini, a former student leader and sports enthusiast, who broke the gender barriers at William Pitcher College (WPC). As the Director of Sports and Entertainment in the Student Representative Council (SRC) for the 2022/23 academic year, she was the only female in the team and faced some scepticism and criticism from those who doubted her abilities. But she did not let that detter her from pursuing her passion and vision for sports development at the college. She challenged herself and proved that women could excel in any field they chose.
“I have always wished to run for the position of being a director, but I needed the courage to do it because I did not have it in me at that time. I had the mindset that only males were supposed to run for any position in the SRC. I was just a girl with passion who wanted to implement changes in the sport category in the college,” Mumu said. “One day I had to shut down the negativity and prove that I could do it. My motto was that if males can do it, then we can definitely do it even better,” she said.
She overcame her fear of public speaking and addressed a student body meeting with confidence and conviction. “Some were written doubt all over their faces yet I could see that some did have hope in me. I then felt like that was my opportunity to show that women can definitely succeed in power,” the final year student argued. She had noticed that soccer was dominating in her college and that was unfair to the ladies who wanted to participate in other sports. She took action and secured more gym equipment. She also introduced new sports such as netball, volleyball, athletics and ladies soccer. “I wanted everything to be perfect because they say first impressions last. The excitement from the students was
FACT FILE:
Name: Anele Dlamini
Nickname: Mumu
Age: 21
College: William Pitcher
Title: Former SRC Director of Sports and Entertainment
Favourite sport: Netball
Secret for success: If you can dream it, you can do it; if one can do it, so do I.
so amazing. I could not believe it was happening. Everything was just under control,” she added.
‘Mumu’ further believes that the future of sport and development must be inclusive of all genders not only on campus but in the entire nation. “If you can dream it, you can do it; if one can do it, so do I. More than anything else, it is believing in myself,” she reiterated.