Mo’s a rolemodel for Umbilo’s youth

UMBILO businessman, Mongisi (Mo) Msibi, has fought hard to make a success out of his life.

Mo is a local success story – a man making something out of himself through hard work and determination and leading the way for others to follow.

Mo started out life living in the townships and attending township schools. He lived between Lamontville with his mother and grandmother, Chesterville with his aunts, and Umlazi with his father until the age of 10 when he moved permanently to Lamontville.

“When I was in primary school, my interest in basketball started and it helped me get out of a lot of stuff. For the guys I was growing up with it was trendy to be part of a gang and to be a criminal, but this is only short-term. They either ended up being arrested or killed. The last guy from that group was buried last month,” he said.

To stay away from the criminal elements, Mo threw himself into basketball and said he fell in love with the sport.

“I played basketball, went to school, and played basketball. I didn’t do anything else. When I was about 14, a guy in Lamontville who was older than me and who was recruited as a player, told me about the DHS Old Boys team and asked me why I didn’t try out for them. I went along and was offered a chance to attend school at DHS. I didn’t feel this was for me as it was an all-boys school, so I turned down the opportunity,” he said.

Mo dropped out of school at the age of 15 to study electrical engineering at an FET college for a year, but said it didn’t go well as he was too young and too keen to ‘jol’ rather than work.

“Fate took over as I had always been fascinated about living in Umbilo and never thought I’d move there, but in 1999 my mom told me she had been offered a flat in Kenneth Gardens. I realised my studies weren’t working out and although I was still playing basketball and had been elected for the KZN U16 and SA Schools teams, I knew I had to do something for myself. I had toured to Johannesburg and met different guys with a different mindset and as there was still interest from DHS, I told my mom I wanted to go back to high school,” he said.

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Mo was given a full scholarship at DHS and said life started to change for him. He met a nice set of friends and his old friends started to fade away. Mo said the experience changed him mentally and he started to achieve.

“I was the captain of the first team, made the SA team and travelled to Mozambique as part of the U18 SA Schools’ team. It was my first trip outside of South Africa,” he said.

Mo got involved in local politics in his matric year after meeting a man who spoke to him about making changes in Kenneth Gardens with the aim of forming a youth league. “People at Kenneth Gardens saw me as a leader, they saw me going off to school in my blazer, they saw me as a working man, and they joined me on the youth league,where we discussed how we could help the youth at Kenneth Gardens. It is still like a township in Kenneth Gardens, with people coming from broken homes and who are poor. I wanted to work with people to make a difference,” he said.

The group organised a soccer and drug awareness event with the help from then councillor Sue Burrows and PR councillor Judy Mulqueeny. The success of the event resulted in another event the following year.

Mo became a volunteer member of Safer Cities in 2008 and went around to view filthy hotspot areas, with Kenneth Gardens being identified as one of these.

“At the time I read a book called Mind over Matter about self-mastery and thinking positively no matter what the circumstances. It wasn’t easy, but six months later I realised my life had started to change. Although I was working, Kenneth Gardens still had a hold on me as I could see how the youth in the estate had no direction, how substance abuse was everywhere and the trend was to look up to and follow elders. It kept touching me that I wanted to do something to make a difference and I decided to speak to the youth about working together to clean up Kenneth Gardens. As they saw me as someone who was doing well, I knew they would follow my lead,” he said.

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Mo decided to give up his job and start from scratch with the group in April 2016 and the Kenneth Gardens Youth Society was born. The group did clean up campaigns inside Kenneth Gardens, with assistance from the councillor, Umbilo Business Forum and municipal departments. Mo also encouraged locals in the clean-up group who weren’t involved to push themselves and make a change for themselves. He was able, through the ward councillor, to get employment for three of the men on a local cable laying contract.

“I realised I wanted to be a businessman and decided to form a cleaning company to clean up the area. Living in a clean area gives you a clean mind. When I was working at Savior Cafe I met Andries Botha from the Umbilo Business Forum and he introduced me to another member, Ian Campbell-Gillies and we had a meeting. I also built up a relationship with Sikho Msomi, chair of the forum,” he said.

A year later Mo was involved as a community liaison officer with contractors in the area, uHlanga Trading, to help get people in the area work. He heard that they needed subcontractors for road reserve and maintenance work.

“I applied through my company and with Ian’s help, I received a contract with the municipality in July to do cleaning. It’s going well. The Umbilo Business Forum recently helped with a new bakkie to enable me to get around, “ he said.

Mo is positive about his future and is proud of how far he has come. He said he hopes other young men in Kenneth Gardens will follow his lead and live a positive life.

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