The woman behind the communications of the Lekwa Municipality needs no introduction for anything municipal, but has a compelling background.
Ms Thobeka Mtshiselwa was the first Black librarian to be appointed in Standerton in 2001.
Her academic qualifications have a solid ring to it with a Masters degree in Information Studies to her name.
It all began in Queenstown where the middle child of Mzwamadoda (David) and Noluthando (Florence) completed her matric at Khanya High School.
“I wanted to do law,” she said.
The Walter Sisulu University of Technology had no space and she invested her energies into her second choice, Library Information Science, and graduated.
Thereby hangs a tale.
“My father sold one of his cows to pay the entrance fee for my studies and took me in his bakkie to university.”
A student loan afterwards paved the way and she enrolled at the University of Cape Town for her Honours degree.
From staying in a hostel for her Bachelors to staying in Langa, Cape Town with family and finally staying with a cousin in Pretoria when she worked as a library assistant in Atteridgeville Public Library, she ended up in Standerton in December 2001 as Lekwa’s librarian.
The corporate world then beckoned and she was appointed as operational manager in the community services department, then manager inter-governmental relations at corporate services before her appointment as communications manager.
A student at heart, her masters was done through Unisa without any definite career goals.
“I just did it for the love of studying and reading.”
Her favourite author is the poet Zakes Mda who hails from the Eastern Cape and the novelist, Gillian Slovo, counts among a favourite as well.
No conversation with Thobeka is complete without realising two things.
She has strong religious roots dating back to her father who is a pastor and farmer and her proud, Xhosa cultural identity.
She joins the Assemblies of God in Sakhile nowadays for services and this mother of two has developed more affection for South Africa’s different cultures.
“I like people to be proud of their heritage.”
Thobeka enjoys the traditional dombola with tripe and kept in shape by jogging until she was attacked in Walter Sisulu Drive in 2010, but escaped unscathed because she kept her bearings and fought the assailant.
“I am a fighter,” she concluded.
