‘Black women can do anything,’ says SA’s Everest hero Saray Khumalo

“Black women can do anything.”

This was the message from Saray Khumalo, the first black African woman to summit Mount Everest. Khumalo arrived at OR Tambo International Airport on Monday morning. 

A crowd of excited supporters greeted Khumalo, who had a South African flag draped around her shoulders and carried a bouquet of flowers as she made her way to a venue where a media briefing was scheduled to be held.

“Sir [Edmund] Hillary summited this mountain in 1953… How come no African woman has done it? Is it because we are incapable? We can do anything we put our minds to,” Khumalo said.

Khumalo reached the peak of the world’s highest mountain (on land) on May 16. This had been her fourth attempt at climbing Mount Everest.

Khumalo said she had embarked on her journey in 2012 to reach the seven highest summits of the world, to date reaching four.