REGISTRATION
INFORMATION
World University Rankings - Top 600

DUT Alumnus Donates Books On International Mandela Day

DUT Alumnus Donates Books On International Mandela Day

People in South Africa and around the world happily devoted 67 minutes of their time to help others as a way to celebrate the birthday of the late former President Nelson Mandela on Tuesday, 18 July.

Individuals and corporate entities were encouraged to follow in Mandela’s footsteps by giving up only 67 minutes of their time to make our world a better place.

Former Durban University of Technology alumnus, Ntsiki Mabona, a Human Resources Director at Mahle Behr SA, decided to donate her personal collection of academic books to DUT on International Mandela Day.

Mahle Behr, one of DUT’s proud CSI partners, is among the world’s 20 largest suppliers and a development partners to the automotive industry.
“I am giving the books in the sense there’s a child out there who has a goal and wants to be something and may not define what that something is right away and would benefit out of the books donated. This, for me, is rewarding in itself,” said Mabona.

She said that the five boxes of her business and management books resulted from her own learning and studies at DUT, and some through her Master’s degree.
“As an HR executive, it’s been an exciting time for the past 18 months. I’m also allowed to do what I love most, which is giving. For me, it’s about transformation, given that it is believed that a woman should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen – and this donation is a start in terms of transformation.
“When I was studying, my research topic was about transformation, specifically in the mining industry. You still enter a mining boardroom and find that the boardroom is not diverse and if that is the case who is challenging them for what has been there? We still have male dominance. There may be few women, but we need to start breaking those stereotypes,” she explained.

Another reason for donating the books was because her grandmother was a teacher, and her mom never had a degree, so she dedicated her degree to her mom, and her Master’s degree to her late brother.

Lucille Webster, Director: Library Services, thanked Mabona for the kind donation. “The books will be taken into stock and placed in the ML Sultan campus library or at the Riverside campus library, as the Faculty of Management Sciences is based on those two campuses. We appreciate your generous gesture,” she said to Mabona.
Prof Sibusiso Moyo, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Engagement, thanked Mabona for rewarding DUT with such a generous and thoughtful contribution, saying that most of the students at DUT were from rural areas in Kwa-Zulu-Natal. “This means a lot; buying textbooks is very expensive. If you have children in school, one book costs you a lot, so by just having access to such books will make a world of difference to the students. From DUT’s side, we want to do an internship programme, especially in Science and Maths, and we want to encourage female students to come back to do more,” she said.

Pictured: DUT’s Mr Zenande Ndakisa (Research and Innovation Liaison, Ms Philisiwe Charity Cele (Statutory Reporting)  Dr Carin Napier (Acting Director: Research and Postgraduate Support), Renitha Rampersad (Associate Professor: Public Relations, Public Relations Management); Vaneshree Govender (Acting Manager: Research and Postgraduate Support); Ntsikie Mabona (HR Director: MAHLE Behr SA); Prof Sibusiso Moyo: DVC Of Research, Innovation and Engagement and Lucille Webster (Director: Library Services), at the donation handover on International Mandela Day.

—Waheeda Peters

No comments