"She who is Powerful"

Morizane Boyes - President of MSSA.

Morizane Boyes first entered competitive gaming in 2013, and since then has not only been competitive, but has excelled in everything that she has done.

In 2013, Morizane earned her Mpumulanga Provincial Colours, and at the S A National Championships too earned herself National Federation Colours. That not being enough, at MSSA’s Annual General Meeting in December 2013, Morizane was elected in for the role of Womens’ Desk. Morizane immediately made her task to introduce more females to gaming.

Such were her efforts that Morizane won the Volunteer of the Year at SPAR's GSport Awards.

In the next year (2014), Morizane earned a re-award of her Provincial Colours at the Gauteng Provincial Championships, and qualified for National Team trials for both StarCraft II and Tekken Tag Tournament being the only female in the history of MSSA to qualify for two different titles.

But StarCraft II and Tekken are not the only games played by Morizane. As Morizane says, “When I’m not “adulting” I am an avid gamer, I play almost everything”. This is indeed true, and apart from games like StarCraft II and Tekken, Morizane too plays CounterStrike and Rust.

Morizane was thus selected to represent South Africa as a member of the Protea eSports Team for IeSF’s 6thWorld Championships – Baku where Morizane represented the country above and beyond the call of duty.

Morizane too became the first female in the world to referee an international test match, and in 2015 refereed test matches in which South Africa played against Austria, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunisia.

With the birth of her son in 2016, Morizane stepped back from active competitive gaming, but still, through Sekhmetic strength, carried on with her duties.

In 2016, Morizane refereed the test match between South Africa and Ghana as well as organised the Mpumulanga Schools Championships, the Mpumulanga Championships, and the 30th S A National Championships. Even if Morizane was not directly involved in organising an event, Morizane was seen to be involved ‘backstage’.

Even while Morizane was competing herself, Morizane never shirked on her Management Board duties. During her period of office,female participation at MSSA events increased by a stunning 663%.

On the results shown under her tenure, Morizane was heard to remark, “I really am excited to see a larger group of girls joining the gaming scene. I believe that there is still a long way to go and I have some amazing women on the MSSA board who are going to help me make a difference for our girl gamers. We are hoping that we will be able to show the country how many talented ladies we have out there. Unfortunately some girls do still see this as a male dominated sport and we are hoping to change that mind set by starting female only tournaments where these ladies can build the confidence and the skill level to be able to take our guys.

Thus at MSSA’s 2016 Annual General Meeting, the Council Meeting with one voice elected Morizane as President as every member believes that Morizane is able to construct a sustainable gaming community.

Thus, even though MSSA is governed by committee, Morizane has firm and positive visions for gaming in South Africa.

Even though MSSA is tied in to its relationships with the International Wargames Federation, International e-Sports federation, and World draughts Federation, Morizanes vision for the MSSA is to have South African gaming to get stronger and move to larger stages all over the world!

Morizane stated, “I honestly believe we have the potential to place our stamp in larger tournaments and be taken seriously. I want to see bigger teams getting involved and I believe that it’s something we can achieve. I want to see e-Sports grow positively and I’m willing to work with the gaming community to achieve that”.

MSSA has always chosen the best possible Registered Players to represent South Africa, and many will remember the top South Africans like Robert Botha, Nathan Anderson, Anthony Hodgson, and Mohamed Wasim Lorgat (to name but a few)who have represented South Africa as members of the Protea Team. However, there are some clubs that are still not affiliated, and it is Morizane’s desire to see all organised clubs to be members of MSSA.

As Morizane stated on this issue, “As long as I’ve been a part of the MSSA, MSSA has never turned down any club that wanted to compete! I have heard from gamers in larger clubs that they fear that if they join the MSSA that they will not be able to take part in any other leagues. This is not the case we want gamers to improve their skills and playing as often as possible is the only way that can be achieved. I would love to be given the opportunity to converse with the gamers who have concerns, so that we can start creating a better gaming community”.

With a very energetic group of people who are on the MSSA Management Board, Morizane is looking forward to making all gaming bigger and better through creating a space where all gamers feel comfortable.

We all wish Morizane all the best with her three year term of office that runs until December 2019.