Rwandan Mukansanga: First Female AFCON Referee Is an Icon of African Girls
As Rwandans join the rest of world to celebrate the International Women’s Day that falls every March 8, it’s an opportunity for stakeholders to take a closer look at the political and social spectrums to find out the impact of women’s emancipation in Rwanda. To this effect, The Light Magazine found concrete evidence on the ground indicating that women’s achievements to a considerable extent match the massive emancipation efforts by the government of Rwanda (GoR), and women are outperforming men in some fields including men’s football, hence, demystifying a myriad of African myths and cultures that present women as a weak sex.
By George Kalisa
Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga is one of African women who have inspired millions of African girls. The 33-year old Mukansanga made history when she became the first woman to referee an Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2021) match since this Continental tournament was midwifed back in 1957. She oversaw the Group B game between Guinea and Zimbabwe at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde on January 18, 2022 and showed six yellow cards including one to Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita, Guinea’s star.
Her profile shows that elevation to the top in football is a product of glowing innate desire to have a place in society and total liberation from hindrances women face along their journey to achieving their goals. Many Rwandans and high profile officials in football administration, especially on the Continent say rare hard work, confidence, self-esteem and aggressiveness that define are behind her success other than good luck.
“We are super proud of Salima because she has had to work exceptionally hard to be where she is today,” observed the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Referees’ Chief, Eddy Maillet.
What surprised the football fans across the globe was the confidence and undying control of the game that ended 2-1 in favor of Zimbabwe.
Sharing her experience with the media at the end of the AFCON 2021 game she officiated said: “After the game my colleagues were laughing, it got emotional then I cried in the locker room. I was really happy, very happy and excited because my dream came true.”
“That game has opened up the door for myself and other women in Africa,” Mukansanga told DW Sports.
Mukansanga boasts of a wide experience and prowess in football and has officiated a number of matches at both regional and international levels.
What are these matches?
On July 24, 2021, Mukansanga was the fourth official at the game between Sweden and Australia’s Olympics Women tournament that ended game 4-2 in the favour of Sweden. On 27th of the same month, she officiated the fixture between the Netherlands’ 8-2 win against China where she showed three yellow cards.
On July 30, 2021, she officiated Great Britain Vs Australia and showed four yellow cards at the Olympics Women completion.
She referred to five games of the Women’s Olympics and officiated Australia Vs Sweden being the fourth official at the match followed by doing the same in Sweden Vs Canada on August 6.
Mukasnsanga showed four yellow cards at the CAF Women’s Champions League fixture of Rivers Angels Vs Mamelodi on November 9, 2021 and three yellow cards at the Hasaacas Vs Far Rabat match on November 15 of the same tournament.
She officiated Guinea Vs Malawi at the African Cup of Nations tournament where she appeared as a fourth official on the 10th of January followed by officiating Malawi vs Zimbabwe on January 14. She became the first Rwandan female referee to officiate FIFA World Cup in the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Uruguay.
FIFA included her among match officials for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup event that happened during June 7 to July 7 in France.
Back home, she was the only female central referee in the 2018/2019 Azam Rwanda Premier League and shortly she had officiated the game between Police and Mukura that ended 3-2 in favour of the keeper of Law and Order in Rwanda.
Who is Mukansanga?
Mukansanga was born and raised up in Rusizi District, Western Province and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and Midwifery from University of Gitwe.
During her childhood, she loved basketball which she dropped citing lack of basketball infrastructure and access to quality coaching.
Later, while at St. Vincent de Paul Musanze she settled for football refereeing where she was awarded her first certificate following her moving performance in this male dominated field.
“I liked basketball, and wanted to take it very seriously, but access to basketball infrastructure and coaches was hard. That’s how I ended up in refereeing, which I have also never regretted. I love it,” Mukansanga told local media when she first came to the limelight of the sports world.
She officiated the match between Zambia and Tanzania in Namibia during the qualifiers of the 2014 CAF African Women’s Championship.
Since then, Mukansanga has been officiating several international matches in the Continent and beyond handling mega tasks including the 2015 CECAFA Women Challenge Cup hosted by Uganda and the Women’s Football Competition at the 2015 All-Africa Games in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo among others.
She has been to so many countries and to all continents due to her job.