WITSIES IN LOVE
LINDA & MZILA
LOUISA & EITZAZ
BEN VILJOEN PHOTOGRAPHY
Res food may be far from romantic, but served up at the shared dining hall for Sunnyside Res and Men’s Res it was what brought Linda Mthenjane (BA Hons 1993) and her husband Mzila (BSc Eng 1992) together in 1989. “Those were the good times,” Linda says. “I’d been at boarding school, so Wits meant safe independence. Mzila grew up in Soweto and it was his first opportunity to leave home. “We did a lot of simple things like walking to the movies in Hillbrow. We would buy food at Checkers and chill, listening to music together. It gave us time to get to know each other.” They have now been married almost 20 years and have two daughters. The Mthenjanes agree that Wits offered them an amazing network that they only became aware of once they started working. “The number of Witsies in powerful positions is astounding.” Today Linda is Group HR Executive for MMI Holdings and Mzila is Executive Head: Strategy and Stakeholder Relations at Exxaro.
Louisa Ferreira met Eitzaz Sadiq in their first year at Wits, in 2000, and both graduated as medical doctors in 2005. “It was only natural for us to have our wedding photos taken on campus as it was the beginning of our amazing 17-year love story,” says Louisa, now a paediatric palliative care specialist. Her husband is a neurologist and they have four children. “We reflect often on the wonderful times we had at Wits, the friends we made and how Wits shaped us to be the doctors and people we are today.” She says Wits gave them not just the edge but each other, and they are grateful for that every day. MAY 2017
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