Zenani Mithi, a businesswoman and well-known social activist from Kayamandi, recently joined fibretime, which has transformed the way she uses the internet and allowed her to stay in touch with her clients and the larger community. Her life has never been better. Zenani (33) is the owner of a popular Tshisa-Nyama, Empompeni, and the founder of the Ukukhanya Project, which, in its short time of existence, has transformed the lives of many people, in particular the youth. Zenani strives to make a difference in her community by introducing projects and programmes that will empower the locals to end poverty and create much-needed jobs. She said through her work, working together with the South African Police Service (SAPS), they managed to establish a victim-friendly room at the Kayamandi Police Station in April 2023. This room was important, particularly for the victims of gender-based violence (GBV), to give them dignity and a sense of confidentiality when they open cases at the police station.
“It’s about time that we, as young people, start to take matters into our own hands and be drivers of change in our communities.
The room was launched on April 26, and Ukukhanya Projects established it with assistance from Ranyaka Community Development, Nedbank, and SAPS. This is according to Captain Nathalie Martin, spokesperson for Stellenbosch SAPS. They were able to turn an old storage room at the SAPS station into the victim support room. “It’s about time that we, as young people, start to take matters into our own hands and be drivers of change in our communities. As experience has taught us, waiting for politicians to deliver things didn’t really help us; hence, I made a decision to embark on this journey of making change,” said Zenani. In her social activism and entrepreneurship endeavours, Zenani said it’s quite difficult to perform her work to the fullest of her abilities if one doesn’t have an affordable and reliable internet connection, as everything stalls. Speaking to fibretime, she said internet data is expensive in South Africa, and the unfortunate part is that one can’t do business without it. 
“We sometimes have to do Zoom meetings, make WhatsApp calls, or simply do research online and download a couple of documents and videos. You can’t do all of this without a good internet connection, which is affordable. With fibertime, we were able to minimise the costs of our internet usage both at my business and at home. I can assure you, I am spending much less than I previously did from other countries’ biggest internet providers; this has really changed our lives,” Zenani said. She said her customers can also easily log in to the fibertime wifi while they are enjoying a meal or having a couple of drinks, which she said makes it convenient for customers.
