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Farai Mubaiwa wins Queen's Young Leader Award
Author: Anina Visser
Published: 14/12/2016

​Ms Farai Mubaiwa, 2016 Student Representative Council (SRC) Member for Womxn* Empowerment at Stellenbosch University (SU), has recently been named a recipient of the prestigious Queen's Young Leader Award (QYL) for 2017.

Two other South Africans, Aditi Lachman and Chantelle De Abreu, are among the 60 recipients of this year's QYL Award. The awards recognise and celebrate young leaders from across the Commonwealth who take ownership of transforming and bettering their communities.

Recipients of the prestigious QYL Award receive a unique combination of training and mentoring which includes a one-week residential programme in the United Kingdom during which they will collect their awards from Her Majesty The Queen.

Mubaiwa was awarded the QYL on the basis of her work for Africa Matters and the #EndRapeCulture Campaign at SU. "Africa Matters looks at decolonising the young African mind, changing the African narrative and creating platforms for African engagement," Mubaiwa explains. "#EndRapeCulture is a nationwide campaign that aims to end rape culture and dismantle patriarchy."

Mubaiwa says she found out that she received the award on the same day that her younger sister, Nopi Mubaiwa, finished matric at Heron Bridge College in Johannesburg, so it was a double celebration for the Mubaiwa family. 

Nopi, who will start her university career at SU next year, says she is extremely proud of her sister because she has achieved so much during her four years at university but has always remained true to herself. "She is such an inspiration and it's great for me to be able to look up to someone who I can also call a sister," Nopi says.

Mubaiwa says that young leaders need to go for opportunities and should never be complacent in their work within their communities. To all the young leaders in South Africa she says: "Always look for other opportunities to advance yourself and others and share networks. There is no use in concentrating networks for yourself only. Sharing networks empowers others to also make an impact."

Mubaiwa consequently hopes that the QYL Award will provide her with the platform to create more networks. "The only thing that often separates black women from other people is opportunity," she says, "And I hope this award will provide me with new opportunities to give to other black women."

Article by Anina Visser, 12 December 2016

*The SRC used the term "womxn" this year.