Unisa alumni share their journeys: Mondli Nhlangulela

Mondli Nhlangulela

Mondli Nhlangulela was born on 10 April 1980, at a place called Umzumbe Highflats on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. At the age of six, he started his primary-school education at Endwebu Combined School in Mzumbe. Due to political upheavals (which were synonymous with those times), he could not complete his primary education. In 1990, he relocated with his two sisters to Durban, where his father worked as a builder.

The family lived at the men’s hostel in T-section, Umlazi, until his father succumbed to tuberculosis on 25 December 1991. Mondli, who was then forced to fend for himself, took up employment as a taxi conductor at the KwaMnyandu rank, until he was taken in by a family member who helped him to enrol and continue his primary education at Umlazi Lower Primary in V- section, Umlazi. Although he was too old to be at primary school doing Grade 3 (the then Standard 1) at the age of 12, Mondli proceeded to represent the school in Mathematics Olympiads and came third in the province in the finals. He completed his primary education at Khalipha Senior Primary at Z-section in Umlazi and then pursued his secondary education at Interfellowship Christian School. Before he could matriculate, however, he had to drop out due to financial constraints.

Mondli took up swimming and qualified as a lifeguard, working for the eThekwini Municipality at various beaches in the Durban area, including Amanzimtoti and Umgababa. It was while working at the beach that he enrolled with Damelin Correspondence College and completed his matric in 2002. In 2003 he enrolled at Unisa to study towards a Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree.  During his studies at Unisa, he left the beach and became involved in student politics as a member of the South African Students’ Congress (SASCO) Unisa Durban Campus Branch. He held the position of Deputy Secretary and later served as Treasurer of the branch.  

In 2004 he was employed as a student worker at Unisa Durban’s Tutorial Services and was transferred to the Department of Student Administration as a Financial Aid Officer, dealing with NSFAS applications and administering bursaries, including the Fundza Lushaka and Social Development bursaries. He was a provincial Street Law Coordinator and from 2005–2007 he served as a member of the Regional Students’ Representative Council at Unisa in KwaZulu-Natal. In November 2007, he graduated with an LLB degree and resigned from Unisa to serve his articles. He is currently studying towards his Masters in Intellectual Property Law.

Mondli began his articles in October 2007 at a small law firm called Pungi Pillay and Associates, who mostly dealt with labour matters. He subsequently abandoned his articles and took up articles of clerkship with Booysen and Company Inc., who mostly dealt with administration orders. During this time, he was also employed as a part-time tutor for first-year law students, tutoring Foundations and Origins of South African Law (2008–2012) and served as the Alumni Convenor for KwaZulu-Natal. In the latter part of 2008, he ceded his articles to Buthelezi Incorporated, a general law firm where he served until he was admitted as an attorney on 27 March 2009. He continued working at Buthelezi Incorporated as a professional assistant until he opened his own law firm, Mondli Nhlangulela Attorneys, in September 2011. Mondli practised on his own account and it was during this time that he was appointed as a member of the South African Football Association Disciplinary Committee Southern Region.

In April 2015, he was appointed as an Acting Magistrate at the Durban Magistrate’s Court as an additional Magistrate under the guidance of Chief Magistrate EB Ngubane. He worked at various courts, including Port Shepstone and Ixopo Magistrate’s Court, until he was appointed as a permanent Magistrate in February 2018. He is currently based at Pinetown Magistrate’s Court as an additional Magistrate in the family and civil section. He is still actively involved in matters affecting higher education, as a voluntary member of the Unisa National Executive Committee of Convocation. This statutory structure meets on a quarterly basis to discuss issues of concern regarding the strategic direction of the institution, the content of the curriculum, and matters affecting the reputation of the university. The annual general meeting of all alumni is held in November in Pretoria, which is when management reports on the progress of the university and its achievements. To date, this executive committee has managed to convince management to release funds for students who are in their final year of study, but are unable to graduate due to a lack of funds.  The committee has also been successful in convincing management, through the College of Graduate Studies, to hold research workshops for students who are pursuing postgraduate qualifications, to raise matters which will help them to successfully complete their qualifications, as the university heads towards becoming a research-based institution.

Covid-19 is amongst us, and is likely to remain so for the next two years or more, if history is anything to go by. However, that does not mean that life ends for students who are currently anxious about their future. Mondli urges them not to lose hope but to continue working hard at their studies and, where they encounter challenges, to alert their lecturers or other stakeholders speedily, so that they can be assisted. As Mondli says, “we are all working towards the same goal and that is to make South Africa a country we can all be proud of”. He adds that we must offer constructive criticism when things go wrong, and remember that we are all human beings who are fallible. Mistakes will happen, but what matters is how we respond to, and learn from, those mistakes. Life is a long and perilous journey, but with perseverance and faith success will eventually come.

Mondli urges students to not lose hope in these trying times. “This type of pandemic comes but once in a century, and ours is the unlucky generation to be part of it, but one thing is certain: it will pass, just as other pandemics have passed, and the human race will survive,” he says. “In saying this, I am reminded of the words of one of the greatest minds of Africa, Kwame Nkrumah, who said: ‘Forward ever, backward never.’ In trying times, we should all dig deep and find that resilient spirit which says: ‘Come what may, I am destined to succeed.’ As the poet William Ernest Henley wrote in the poem ‘Invictus’, which was later quoted by Nelson Mandela:

I thank whatever gods may be

for my unconquerable soul

…

[For] I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Every one of us has it in us to succeed, no matter what life throws at us, if we stay true to our convictions."

* By Jo Cossavella, Communications Officer, Unisa-KwaZulu Natal Region