Young attorney a beacon of hope among youth
Some people take many years to decide which career path to follow eventually, but this has not been the case with the youthful Tebogo Innocentia Munyai (26).
She was only 10 when she decided that she would like to become a lawyer. Today she is a qualified jurist – attorney Tebogo Innocentia Munyai – and she has worked hard to achieve all that.
“I don’t remember who inspired me to become a lawyer, because at that time no one in my family was a lawyer, or a graduate, for that matter.”
A resident of Thohoyandou, Tebogo read many books along the road to graduating with an LLB degree from the University of Venda in 2015. She served her articles with Vhutshilo Nange Attorneys and was admitted as an attorney in 2018.
“I had become an attorney and opened up an office with Fumanekile Makamu, where we are practising under the name Makamu & Munyai Inc,” she said. “I was so overjoyed with those achievements. They were real milestones.”
However, for Tebogo, procrastination was not an option just because she had gotten a first degree and opened a law firm. She felt that she needed to add more qualifications. “I enrolled for a master’s degree in property law with the University of Venda in 2018,” she said.
Tebogo wanted to excel in the practice of law. So, she had a stint as a law researcher at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. She soon passed her conveyancing examinations and was officially admitted as a conveyancer to the High Court of South Africa.
“In order to make the dream of being a lawyer a reality, I put my eyes on the ball and focused on it, regardless of how negative people were towards the idea. Another factor was the ‘scare’ around studying law, because you are constantly told it is one of the hardest professions to get into, especially when you are a woman,” she said. “Of course, one of the key challenges was to prove myself as a woman, that I can do it as much as a man can.”
Her work adds great value to society, because she makes sure that justice is not only done but is seen to be done.
“I am not a creature of habit, so I cannot say I have actualised myself in life,” she said. “I am still open to new opportunities and challenges. However, I am so proud that, so far, I am the only Thohoyandou-based conveyancer.”
Tebogo was raised by her grandparents in an extended family, sharing the livelihood of uncles, aunts and cousins, in a household of one breadwinner. “We either shared one meal or went to bed on an empty stomach,” she said.
She encouraged the youth to identify their dreams and pursue them. “The mind is the most powerful weapon you can use against poverty,” she said. “So, make sure you feed it with positive thoughts. No matter how much confidence the world has in you, at the end of the day, it is you who has a duty to execute. Your dreams are valid.”
Tebogo was born in Moletjie near Polokwane, and she only relocated to Thohoyandou later in life, where she currently resides.
SOURCE: Limpopo Mirror | News | Young attorney a beacon of hope among youth
