Foni a lioness in her own right

Famously known as the wife of former Greater Tzaneen Municipality mayor, Othaniel Mushwana who is currently the chief whip of the Mopani district.

Foni was a Member Of Parliament for five years and she says that she enjoyed every single moment of it.

Before Parliament she was Khujwana’s circuit manager, principal of three schools, teacher and the first South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) Gender Forum leader and she is a co-founder of the Affirmative burial society.

Mushwana was the first person to fight for black learners’ rights to attend Tzaneen primary school after 1994.

“I was determined to fight for the educational rights of the learners and no one was to stop me,” said Mushwana.

In 1996 when Phindile Mushwana, her daughter, was accepted at the school, she ensured that the English language be made a medium of teaching at the school.

Mushwana was born in Alexandra township in Johannesburg and later moved to Mhinga in Malamulele.

In high school she was a top achiever for three years respectively, which gave her the opportunity to study teaching in Tivumbeni teaching college, where she met her husband.

“The women who inspire me are Chief Tinyiko Nwamitwa and Elizabeth Nyathi, who were both my teachers at the college. “I loved how they carried themselves as women,” said Mushwana.

She urges women to stand together and not to put each other down and to always work hard for their dreams.