Who is Lunga?
It’s a sunny afternoon in Stellenbosch. Lunga Swelindawo sits in the shade of a tree on the rooiplein at Stellenbosch University. Semi-formally dressed and a wide smile on his face he greets me with a stern hand.
Lunga Swelindawo is a very goal driven individual and has been ever since his teenage years where he grew up in Riebeeck West not far from Malmesbury in the Western Cape.
He’s currently 23 years old and smiles when he says that his story started all the way back in Dordrecht, a small township in the Eastern Cape where he was born in 1995.
Lunga Swelindawo (23) Master’s in Economics student, legacy of firsts.PHOTO:Dominique Jeftha
Growing up in a very normal family with both parents and three siblings, Swelindawo looked up to his older brother and sister as well as younger sister.
He was only four years old when his family decided to move to the Western Cape where they live in a small prison complex where his father is a prison warden.
It was in Riebeeck West where he learned to speak English and Afrikaans to the point that he is fluent in both as well as his home language of isiXhosa.
He started his high school career at Smuts Malan High School and in grade eight moved to Malmesbury.
I always wanted to become an economist ever since I was twelve years old.
He grew up in very fortunate circumstances at home but became friends with people less fortunate than him and it was at that point where he started to change as a person and the direction he was going.
Swelindawo says that his dream of becoming a developmental economist was partly inspired by those less fortunate than himself.
Leadership
High School
Swelindawo became the first black head boy at Hoërskool Swartland in Malmesbury (2013).
Explaining the process, he says that always knew that the school never in its history had a black head boy and always kept that in his mind.
His goal was to break that barrier and become the first black head boy of the school.
When it came time to pick/vote for a head boy he says he had done enough for the students for them to put trust in him.
University
Swelindawo vividly remembers tannie Margaret Rossouw, who use to tell him about Stellenbosch University. She was his extra maths tutor and motivated him to apply to Stellenbosch.
Having never set foot in Stellenbosch, Swelindawo applied to the university and got accepted.
In 2014 he registered for a BCom Economics degree at Stellenbosch University.
Having known nothing about university residence, he phoned Jacques Welman previous head boy of Hoërskool Swartland for advice.
Welman stayed in Huis Marais so Swelindawo decided to make Huis Marais his first choice. “Huis Marais hier gaan ons” jokes Swelindawo.
Upon his arrival at Huis Marais, Swelindawo says that he felt immediately welcome. This could be attributed to him being able to speak Afrikaans fluently and understanding the culture.
He highlights that one of the first things he had to face was, who he as a person wanted to be and what legacy he wanted to leave behind at university.
While he enjoyed the favour of seniors in the residence already knowing him because of his background at Swartland.
Some of his friends and fellow first years who he had arrived with him were not treated as he was. Mainly because they did not all understand Afrikaans and culture at the residence.
Swelindawo as HK in 2016 during one of the sporting events held for first years.PHOTO:Supplied
It did not sit well with him stating that he wanted everyone to be treated fairly. Again, he had to question himself,
was I just going to sit back and enjoy all the attention given to me and being the token black who says nothing wrong”.
He decided to be there for those who were not treated like him.
Swelindawo got nominated onto leadership positions which included first year’s committee and second year committee. He stood for HK (House Committee) and became the first black HK member of Huis Marais continuing the legacy leadership which started from high school.
The position came with a certain level of responsibility in terms of what he was going to do now that he got this position.
Swelindawo says that it always went back to what difference he could make in the lives of those people whom the system was not necessarily working for.
“I would like to believe that subsequent to my leadership a certain percentage of people were open to what was happening outside of the residence be it #FeesMustFall or the outsourcing of workers.”
Education
An eye opener for Swelindawo was when he arrived at Stellenbosch and had to do the extended degree program (EDP) for BCom Economics, because his maths mark in grade 12 was not that great.
To me it was a little bit of a setback in my life, this was the beginning of my studies at varsity”
Swelindawo says all his friends said that in three years they are going to be finished with university. While he knew he had to do an extra year because of EDP.
“I really thought of myself as that guy, I got hit by this shock of you are not as great as you think you are”.
Looking back Swelindawo says that EDP was good for his own personal growth. Doing EDP also came with a certain lifestyle Swelindawo had to maintain and that was the “you had to work twice as hard to get the same result as others”.
EDP taught me to be humble from the very beginning”
Swelindawo completed his BCom in Economics degree in 2017 and his honours degree in 2018. Every second day during his honours year he asked himself “why am I doing this to myself”. He says it was a nightmare from Monday to Friday.
It was during his honours year that he came to understand what it meant to dropout or to want to drop out of varsity.
Swelindawo ascribes the reason for not dropping out to him being a “why person”. If you know why you are doing something, continue to do it. His “why” was that twelve-year-old boy’s dream of becoming an economist. That is how he survived his honours and is currently doing his master’s degree in economics.
Biggest inspiration
Swelindawo’s biggest real-life inspiration is Nelson Mandela and fictionally Jon Snow from Game of Thrones as well as Harvey Spectre from Suits. Jon Snow because like Jon he also wants to find favour with different people.
Weakness
“I think my biggest weakness is self-doubt, I always downplay my abilities because sometimes I find it hard that I can accomplish something, and I feel bad when I cannot.” He adds that sometimes he puts to much pressure on himself especially when it comes to helping others.
Biggest fear
My biggest fear is that I get to the be a qualified economist and then come to the realisation that this dream which I thought was everything I wanted is not what is going to bring me joy.”
According to Swelindawo his hope has always been to inspire others to be the next first. Whether it is first black primarius or first in your family to go to university.