Mbombela’s mayor calls on women to unite
Makushe is one of the youngest executive mayors in the country,
The City of Mbombela’s executive mayor, Cllr Sibongile Makushe, said it is important for women to rise above everything.
This was during the monthly South African Council for Businesswomen’s (SACBW) networking session at Kingfisher’s Country Kitchen & Traditional Smokehouse on Wednesday April 13, where she was the guest speaker.
According to her, women need to push through doors closed to them. “As women, we want to speak of equality. There is never equality at any given time. Whether you are in a business or leadership position, it would never be easy as it would be for a man, because the standard they set for us women is different from where they set if for men.
ALSO READ: Businesses come together to make a difference
“If a man reaches this far, they applaud him. For you to be applauded the same way, you must go higher than he did. The doors that are opened for men are not opened as wide for women. “No one will ever think we fought our way to be here. We are lucky that this year we had to go through interviews and then pass out on merits. Were it not for these interviews, I guarantee you that even my husband would have divorced me. For some reason, everyone thinks we have slept our way through.
“When you go into business, particularly when you want to do business with government tenders and contracts, apparently you have to sleep with someone to get it. That is the notion out there and it is the stigma that needs to be done away with. We should at some point start looking at one another and ask how did we get where we are, instead of thinking we got there because we opened our legs.”
ALSO READ: Radio host tees off to raise money for the underprivileged
Makushe explained how she studied mechanical engineering and how it was not easy for everyone to see her in this field.
“When I told my family, they were surprised, because they expected me to study medicine. On arrival at college, I was the only female in my class. My first job that I got was at Mercedes. I was the first woman to be employed as an apprentice mechanic at Mercedes-Benz Union Motors, Mbombela.”
