By Katlego Sekhu
Joining My Top 10 at 10 this week for a Mother’s Day special are Dr Judy Dlamini and her daughter Nkanyezi Makhari.
Dr Judy Dlamini is a South African businesswoman, author, and the Chancellor of the University of Witwatersrand. From 2007 until 2015 she served as the chair lady of Mbekani Group. In 2020 Forbes Magazine named her as one of Africa’s most powerful women and in 2022 she was on their list of 50 over 50 women leading the way throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Speaking about being a mom, Dr Dlamini’s daughter Nkanyezi now understands the work that goes into motherhood. “Parents are trying their best. Having kids is amazing but raising them is the hard part,” she says
One of her biggest fear, when she was pregnant with her second child, was, loving the child as much as she loves the first one. “When they arrive you realize that your heart just grows bigger and bigger. There is just more of you to give,” she said.
Dr Judy doesn’t take all the credit for raising her kids well. “I think God Is just there with you. A lot of it is Nkanyezi rather than the job that I did,” she confesses.
As a mom, she’s a firm believer in, “apologizing when you’re in the wrong.” Nkanyezi adopted the same traits and is applying them in her journey as a mother.
The fears that come with raising a girl child
Dr Dlamini admits that raising a girl child came with a lot of fears. “The funny thing is that when you are parenting there will always be the nice person and the strict parent,” she tells The Best T in the City. “You carry the fears you had when you were growing up and you inject them into your daughter. The thing I was scared of was getting pregnant out of wedlock and it’s the fear I had for her.”
Her daughter recalls her mom being very strict. “A big one was no sleepovers and no boys,” she adds. From this came a lot of “valuable lessons” she applies in her parenting. “I think it’s important to bring kids up in a solid environment. They were valid fears. I want my kids to self-actualize to be the best for themselves. So much of who they become is determined by God, It’s about nourishing the seed,” said Nkanyezi.
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