A Women's Day benefit lunch organised by the Black Management Forum and independent co-ordinator Sekgametsi Maloa raised funds for the Lelona Fufu Scholarship, which commemorates the Rhodes BSc honours student murdered while hitchhiking to her graduation ceremony in 2012.
A Women's Day benefit lunch organised by the Black Management Forum and independent co-ordinator Sekgametsi Maloa raised funds for the Lelona Fufu Scholarship, which commemorates the Rhodes BSc honours student murdered while hitchhiking to her graduation ceremony in 2012.
The event, at Saints Bistro last Saturday, centred on what it means to be a woman in the 21st century. The speakers were three notable young, successful women, Pamela Segone, Thina Maqubela and Chuma Myoli.
Segone, 34, is a partner in Benhaul, a company that transports goods in South Africa and other SADC regions. She is also a board member of the South African Mining Development Association.
She said being a woman in the 21st century means “being able to be myself and use the opportunities that our government has given us to tap into all the different divisions or different dynamics of life”.
It also meant “being able to create jobs, being able to inspire women like I just did here and being able to put food on the table for many families”.
Segone said it is very difficult to be a woman in the transport and mining industries because they are male-dominated and women have to work “10 times harder to get accepted, to get listened to, to get job and business opportunities”.
She urged other young women who want to pursue a career in business to study so that they can have credibility behind their names.
Despite the challenges in the mining industry such as strikes and retrenchments and those in the trucking industry such as the increase in diesel prices, Segone said she always has to stay strong and pull up her socks no matter what.
“I obviously didn’t come so far to give up. I’m a strong person, I’m very confident, I go out, I’m a go-getter, and I’m self-driven so I will pursue my journey and I will get there,” she said.
Segone said she is motivated by seeing people happy and being able to create job opportunities for others and by seeing her business grow.
Chuma Myoli, who was born in Kwazakhele, Port Elizabeth, is a key accountants manager at Transnet National Port. She said her mother instilled in her the values of sharing and caring for others.
“I always knew that I would be somebody that speaks for those that don’t have a voice,” Myoli said.
She said she became depressed after getting divorced only four months after her wedding, and took antidepressants for three months and therapy for another three months.
But, she said, these experiences helped make her the woman she is today.
Myoli advised women to “protect their time, to protect themselves and to actually have time to relax and to rejuvenate. If you don’t take time for yourself and by yourself you’ll actually get lost in the noise of it all and you’ll never know who you are.”
Thina Maqubela, a Rhodes University Theory of Finance lecturer, said she was inspired by the story of Lelona Fufu.
“I feel like we should celebrate her life and who she was and also make sure that this scholarship goes on to inspire other young women like her,” Maqubela said.
This is to make sure that "wherever she is, she is smiling at the legacy she has left at Rhodes University” she added.
She said she is determined to ensure that township youth are aware of all the opportunities they can pursue after matric.
“My role is to make sure that I create a platform that young people are able to navigate the system better than I did when I was a young person,” Maqubela said.
There were also performances by award-winning poet, Mak Manaka, and singers Kay Mosiane and Siki Qwazi.
