As another season of Future Leaders returns to SABC1, we caught up with Miss South Africa finalist, Sihle Makhanya, who will be one of the mentors this year. The KZN beauty will help to raise awareness about the effects of alcohol abuse by mentoring a young person in her area.
“When I entered Miss South Africa, I had two plans. Plan No 1 was what I would do if I won and the second was how to stand out if I didn’t win. At the end of the competition the sponsors of Future Leaders saw me and I was the only girl from KZN to make it to the Top 5. When they were looking for mentors, the people at SABC called me and told me that they were interested in working with me. We went through a screening process and a month after Miss South Africa, I got the job,” she said.
In the beauty competition, models often talk about how they want to help communities and charities and for Makhanya, the dream has come true. Also, the issue of alcohol is real in her life so she can relate.
“In black culture especially, we all have that uncle who drinks and we have to worry about when there is a gathering. I am blessed with a couple of those so I have seen what alcohol does. I also went to an all-girls’ school were some girls skipped school to go and drink and they only woke up in ’varsity to realise the time they had wasted. That’s why I am passionate about raising awareness around underage drinking,” she said.
That said, Makhanya also feels that society still suppresses women so in their quest to get opportunities in life, they should handle their alcohol better.
“I feel that this issue is hard for females, more so than their male counterparts. It’s generally hard for us women to crack it in any market. So imagine being a young female who abuses alcohol yet you want to get ahead in life. You are unlikely to get ahead until you clean up your act,” she said.
“This is what I am sharing with the girl I mentor. Her name is Hlengiwe Mcoyi and I tell her that there is a time for everything. I can’t stop her from wanting to drink when she’s older. She doesn’t have a great relationship with her mom. Her father used to beat the mother and she resorted to alcohol. We have a good relationship. It’s started off as a big sister/little sister bond, but I have to move it to mentoring exclusively. The thing is, I am such a softie so when she messes up I am accommodating, although I have the responsibility to be hard on her, from time to time,” she added.
l Future Leaders, Sundays, 5pm, SABC1.