Some African female trailblazers and how they made it

As more women lace their boots to hit the ground running in 2022 and beyond, we take a trot across the continent and put together short stories of some African women who continue to blaze the trail in their respective sectors.

Salima Mukansanga

First is Salima Mukansanga, Africa’s first woman to officiate as centre referee at the Africa Cup of Nations. The 33-year-old Rwandan is one of the four female match officials selected for the tournament which kicked off on January 9, 2022, in Cameroon.

She became the first-female centre referee since the inception of the tournament, making history in the match between Zimbabwe and Guinea.

She had previously officiated at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan; 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, 2018 female under 17 World Cup, Under 23 Olympic qualifiers, Africa Women’s Nations Cup, CAF Women’s Champions League, Rwandan League matches, among others.

Salima Mukansanga was listed among the 63 officials at a tournament hosted in Cameroon. Carine Atemzabong (Cameroon), Fatiha Jermoumi (Morocco), and Bouchra Karboubi (Morocco) were the other three females worked as assistant referees.

Precious Sibalo

From working as a waitress, she rose through the ranks to become a Commercial Pilot.

She is a former Cabin Crew at Qatar Airways and holds an Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) from 43 Air School, South Africa.  Her late mother had her at age 17 and she was raised by her grandparents.

At age 17, she also had a child and immediately relocated to South Africa because she could no longer proceed to the University. Upon arriving in South Africa she worked as a waitress, but all this could not stop her from achieving her dream.

“I used the job of a waitress as a stepping stone. Some people will always say I will never take this job; take it and use it as a stepping stone.

“Work with excellence and cultivate your knowledge because knowledge is power. The waitress job took me to Dubai and paved a way for my job at Qatar Airways,” she said.

Precious is currently working on her Flight Instructors Rating and flying to build hours in South Africa, in an effort to achieve her next goal – flying big planes at Qatar Airways.

Sinethemba Masinga

She is a second-generation farmer and has been involved in farming from a young age, working closely with her parents.  Her farm produce include – nuts, yams, sweet potatoes, dry beans, green beans, eggplant, green peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, among others.

As Director of the farm, she is involved in the day to day manual labour on the farm.

“If I’m not monitoring basic tasks like fencing, fetching water and supervising harvesting, I  keep also the records of the farms accurate and up-to-date.

“I handle our business account to manage all our monthly expenses and payrolls and make sure the profits we make are used for emergencies or saving towards resources for labour on the farms,” she said.

She believes “the only way for more young women to be involved in farming is to change their minds.”

“Farming is for everyone and should not be associated with any gender. There are no limits to the positions women can fill in the agricultural sector. The sky is the limit; young women should go grab those opportunities, break the chains to motivate and create jobs for the generations to come,” she said.

Maud Chifamba

Born in abject poverty, she is now a Chartered Accountant, Education Content Creator and Advocate. At age 14, she became one of the youngest University students in Africa.

She obtained a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours degree) at age 18 and a Master of Science (MSc) in Accountancy at age 20 from the University of Zimbabwe. 

Chifamba lost her father when she was just five years old. Her mother was suffering from cancer and she could not take care of her younger brother.

When she was in grade ‘3’ in 2005, she was mistakenly given a grade ‘4’ exam paper but managed and scored 100 per cent. The same year, she requested for a grade ‘5’ test paper and passed with distinction. She went on to finish grade 7 at the age of nine.

In 2009, Chifamba did not have money for high school, she studied on her own and completed her Ordinary Level in just two years. She was later identified by the Ministry of Education and awarded financial assistance for her A levels.

She lost her mother in 2011 but against all odds, at age 23, she qualified as a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe and certified as a Public Accountant by the Public Accountants and Auditors Board, Zimbabwe.

— WomenPowerAfrica

By Spectator Reporter