VUT Director of Stakeholder Engagement Ms Ndumi Lufele reflects on overcoming adversity, leading with empathy and empowering other women to rise.
25 August 2026 | Story by: Nontobeko Moimane | Picture:
For Ms Ndumi Lufele, resilience is not an abstract leadership quality. It is something she had to discover when her own strength was tested.
“I stood back up after all the challenges I faced when I first joined the institution,” said Ms Lufele, Director of Stakeholder Engagement at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT).
Those difficult early experiences did more than toughen her. They changed how she sees and leads others.
“While facing those hard times, it helped me to fully understand when others are going through what I went through,” she said.
Her reflection captures the kind of leadership that hardship can forge. It is firm without becoming cold, and confident without losing compassion. Having experienced difficult moments herself, Ms Lufele understands that people may carry struggles that are not immediately visible.
This empathy has shaped the way she leads her team, particularly during uncertain and demanding periods.
“One of the greatest challenges in my leadership journey has been guiding the team through some difficult times,” she said. “It taught me to let team members do what they do best as experts in their respective units.”
For Ms Lufele, leadership does not mean having every answer or controlling every decision. It means recognising the expertise around her, trusting people to do their work and creating the conditions in which they can flourish.
The achievement she values most is therefore not a title or a personal milestone. It is seeing the people around her move forward.
“The contribution I am most proud of making at VUT is allowing my team to grow and develop in their careers and giving them all the support they need,” she said.
Her words reveal a simple but often overlooked measure of leadership: what becomes possible for others because someone chose to believe in them.
As VUT commemorates Women’s Month, Ms Lufele’s journey also speaks to the responsibility women leaders carry in opening doors for those who follow. Progress, she believes, should not end with one woman’s success. It should create space for more women to find their voices, build confidence and take their place at the table.
Her message to aspiring women leaders is direct: “Stay focused, own your voice, be confident and lift others through mentorship and support.”
It is advice grounded in experience rather than theory. She knows what it means to face adversity, to find the courage to rise again and to turn difficult experiences into a deeper understanding of others.
Ms Lufele’s story reminds us that leadership is not only revealed in moments of triumph. Sometimes, it begins in the quiet decision to stand up again. Its legacy is then carried forward through every person a leader trusts, supports and helps to rise.