2 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Thulani Madondo Upskilling & empowering the youth of Kliptown Thulani Madondo at the KYP complex in Kliptown, Gauteng Sitting in Thulani Madondo’s bright office with the Kliptown Youth Program’s (KYP) 2025 strategic goals on the wall, it is easy to forget that the surrounds are one of the most impoverished and neglected areas in Gauteng. Madondo, 42, knows the circumstances of the 1402 children who benefit from the KYP’s programs all too well, as he was born only a few metres from the building’s front steps that he and a group of friends founded 17 years ago. He grew up in a single room shack with his mother and seven siblings. The modern building with a computer lab, numerous classrooms, a gender neutral bathroom, an indoor football pitch, and a large kitchen stands in stark contrast to the corrugated iron shacks and rubbish-strewn gravel paths surrounding it. “Our impact is really amazing,” he says with a beaming smile. “I lived here in this squatter camp, no electricity, no running water, everything communal. Today almost 99% of our team no longer live here in Kliptown. As we develop the organisation and empower the kids, we were also very fortunate to empower ourselves. “We have five of our alumni working full-time for the organisation now, with two of them in managerial positions. That is something to be extremely proud of,” Madondo says. “I always tell the kids: ‘the only thing you owe us is your success’.” Occupying a significant place in South Africa’s history, Kliptown became the first place where the historic Freedom Charter, that paved the way for South Africa’s democratic goals and ideals, was adopted in 1955. Despite the lofty aspirations of the Freedom Charter, residents of Kliptown were left behind and neglected for decades by the Apartheid regime and 30 years of democratic rule. The community lacks even the most basic of human needs such as schools, healthcare facilities, running water, electricity, and proper sanitation. Due to extreme poverty and little to no service delivery, the children of Kliptown are often the most vulnerable, with access to school uniforms, shoes, food and reading material inaccessible to many. Madondo and his friends saw these needs and came together almost two decades ago to do something about the grinding poverty and desperation that people in their community were faced with. Since then, KYP has developed and grown, catering to more children every year and providing more services to the entire community. These days children have access to tutoring, school fees and uniform support, a food program, online learning through computer labs with internet, a vocational program, performing arts, culture, and sport programs, a library, and psychosocial support, among other things. “All the work we do here, it is not for fame. It is to help people, especially children, to rise out of poverty. No one chose to be born in poverty, but how we respond to that and the challenges that come with poverty is the most important. There are so many opportunities for people, but it’s how they respond to them. That is what we are trying to do, to help people with the mindset to succeed in life,” Madondo says. But it is not just children who benefit from KYP and its many programs. Anyone from the community can come and use the computer labs to prepare for and apply for jobs, while there are dedicated staff on site to help people apply for social grants. “The best thing we can do as an organisation is to give full ownership of the centre to the community at large,” Madondo says, adding that residents of Kliptown were given job opportunities through a lottery system during the construction on the new premises. On a weekly basis, unemployed residents also get opportunities to earn some money by cleaning and helping maintain the site. Madondo says despite never going to university himself and giving up on his dream to become an accountant, he has championed more than R10-million as alumni of the program enrolled for tertiary education during the last 17 years. “Today some of our alumni are living lives way, way better than myself and I am okay with that,” he says. “That was always the dream. The more successful the children become, the better I become. I sleep very peacefully knowing very well how many people’s lives I’ve touched. And not myself, it’s a collective effort of course. I am constantly humbled, motivated, and inspired by our alumni.” < Previous Item Next Item >

67 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Thato Thabang Mosoeu A safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community Thato Mosoeu at home in Bloemfontein Thato, also known as Thabang, is an activist for the sensitisation of the LGBTQIA+ community in Bloemfontein. She is passionate about providing a safe space for the community to talk about their experiences and, in turn, push for change by challenging local organisations to change how they interact with the LGBTQIA+ community. Through her experience working with various NGOs in the area, Thato realised the importance of going to the clinics and police stations to educate the people working there on how to treat the LGBTQIA+ community in a more sensitive and inclusive way. She also hosts support groups for the LGBTQIA+ community to talk about their experiences in order to gain a better understanding of what needs to be done. Thato was inspired by her own experience when a male police officer refused to refer to her as a woman. At the time, the police officer refused to listen to Thabang, simply telling her that she would always be a man. This 2018 encounter in the mall made her realise the important work that needed to be done to help create a safer and more accepting society for her community. < Previous Item Next Item >

18 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Sandile Soxokashe Campaigning for peaceful protests Sandile Soxokashe in Bekkersdal In 2013 the town of Bekkersdal was overrun by ten months of protests about the lack of service delivery in the area. Over time the demonstrations turned to riots, government buildings were burned, people were hurt and valuable infrastructure was destroyed. Sandile Soxokashe was a 15-year-old boy at the time, desperate for some way to change the community, he became actively involved in the protests. In hindsight, he sees it as a valuable lesson in his journey to becoming an activist, a steep learning curve teaching him how things shouldn’t be done and leaving the community in a poorer place than they were before. Government buildings that were destroyed have been demolished and the land has been left disused and vacant. Residents now need to travel long distances to access the government facilities in other suburbs. Ten years later Sandile has started his own initiative called Be The Future Foundation. The point of the organisation is to educate the local community in safe, legal and effective forms of protest. He is passionate about change, but he knows that it will not come about if communities make the same mistakes as they did in Bekkersdal. He sees how they destroyed their own community and wants to provide a better path. Be The Future Foundation is working together with the NPO Right To Protest to produce comprehensive workshops that educate the community whilst also training their own volunteers to become mediators between the community and the government. They are working on zero budget, but they are so passionate that the three directors and ten volunteers meet twice a week to produce the course that will lead them in their quest to give a new, more effective, louder and more peaceful voice to unheard communities. In addition to the training workshops for protesting, not rioting, Be The Future Foundation is also developing a series of workshops for schools to teach kids about their constitutional rights, in order to develop them into more active citizens. They believe that the lethargy that has befallen people in many parts of South Africa is a direct result of not knowing how to make a change and of having clarity of what that change should be. Sandile is not ashamed of being part of the 2013 riots. It shaped him into who he is today. And who he is today is a man who cares deeply about his community and wants them to be able to have agency and a voice, and push for effective and long-lasting change. < Previous Item Next Item >

81 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Ntsiki Khunju Economic empowerment for young women Ntsiki Khunju at the Outreach Foundation Community Centre in Hillbrow “I see myself as a conversation starter. I love having meaningful conversations that change lives, that get young people thinking about things we wouldn’t usually think about.” Ntsiki Khunju lives her life in the pursuit of change. Change in the way that young people see themselves and change in the way that the older generations see the youth. Although her activism starts at home, with the education of her young daughter, it manifests itself in all other areas of her life, from paid work to volunteering. Often the seeds of passion for advocacy are sown at home, through the parents, in the formative years of a child's life but Ntsiki was catalysed into action through a personal tragedy in her early 20’s. In 2016 her younger brother died at the age of 18, an event which she now sees as the turning point in her journey. “Initially I got into activism to blanket the pain I was feeling from my brother’s death. I got healing in that space and recognised that if the world wasn't as damaged he would probably still be with us.” This may be the event that lit a fire in Ntsiki but the world had been preparing her for a while. At high school, a friend guided her towards the Afrika Tikkun Uthando a child and youth development centre in Johannesburg where she joined an afterschool programme for girls called the Young Urban Women, run by ActionAid. Through this programme, she was exposed to discussions about feminism, advocacy and sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). “I was intrigued by the concept of SRHR to understand the challenges that young people faced at the time; accessing services, the stigma, the judgement and the prejudice. I wanted to pursue the continuation of that advocacy.” At the time the Young Urban Women programme was only for girls who were at high school, so leaving school meant leaving the programme. Seeing her potential, Afrika Tikkun offered Ntsiki a leadership position to study social auxiliary work which, in time, turned into a paid job at the centre. While doing this, Ntsiki was also studying child and youth care work, as well as taking up a volunteer position on the community advisory board at Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI). “Wits RHI is where I got exposed to the concept of STI management, clinical research into vaccines and HIV prevention. I realised that I could be a person who connects and bridges the community and the science.” It was around this time that ActionAid developed Young Urban Women to include a space for youth who had left school but wanted to continue with their advocacy; a space for active citizens to collaborate and develop. So in 2022, Ntsiki joined them again, this time as a writer, documenting the workshops, conversations and learnings of Young Urban Women and publishing them through Activate! Change Drivers, through their blog and social media. As a young woman with a passion for change, qualifications and professional experience in social work, child welfare, and sexual and reproductive health rights; Ntsiki has a unique overview of what is important for youth advocacy in South Africa. It is the current focus of the Young Urban Women that fascinates her the most. This year ActionAid have launched their feminist economy manifesto in order to produce more economically empowered active citizens, activists who would not be at the mercy of others for their survival but who, by virtue of supporting themselves, would be in a position to make informed decisions. “If you empower groups of young people you are creating an empowered community. A community that is economically empowered can be vocal about the importance of condom use because they are not having to beg for money anymore, they are not at the mercy of men.” It is this idea of economic empowerment that Ntsiki will take forward with her advocacy as it speaks to everything that she cares about through her work. This story was created in partnership with Action Aid < Previous Item Next Item >

13 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Kekeletso Khena A petition to stop statutory rape Kekeletso Khena at home Kekeletso Khena is deliberate about everything that she does. Every interaction and every gesture seems to be rooted in this question: “Is this a responsible and positive action for the people around me?” Kekeletso is a co-owner of the the Scalp Clinic & Spa in Randfontein where she mentors and trains other women who want to one day run their own business. Her focus is to encourage and upskill them and then to support them in the early stages of their new venture. From the spar, she also sells her own range of beauty products that use locally sourced ingredients, uplifting local communities by encouraging them to grow and sell the products that she needs. Through every step of the process, she is thinking about the people who are affected and how she can add value to their lives whilst also creating a high-end, saleable product. But this is not why I am here to talk with Kekeletso. I am here to talk about her petition to hold professional workers legally accountable for reporting incidents of statutory rape. In August 2023 she noticed a surge of posts on social media about young girls getting pregnant in South Africa. There was outrage over the story of a 10-year-old in KZN followed by heated discussions and passionate comments, but it felt to her like nothing was actually being done to address the issue. “We are a country of outrage. We see something and are outraged for five minutes and nothing gets done about it.” As a childhood rape survivor herself, Kekeletso decided that she could not sit on the sidelines and watch. She needed to raise her voice, create awareness and challenge the state to do something about it. She recognised that teenage pregnancy is usually made the problem of the girl and that they would often be blamed for allowing the crime to happen. Kekeletso passionately believes that this attitude needs to change and that, instead, we need to deal with the adults who are sexualising, abusing and raping children. It is also of major concern for her that the health professionals who are the most likely to identify when a child has been raped are under no legal obligation to do anything about it. If anything, the stigma and complexity of the issue make it easier for them to turn a blind eye. As the first step in her campaign, Kekeletso has taken to Change.org to start a petition. Not because she thinks that a petition will, on its own, bring about the change that she wants to see, but because it will make her campaign more official, raise awareness and build a strong following. “It has allowed what I care about to not be about me. I have about 7000 people who agree with what I am saying. When I call the Minister of Health I can do so as a concerned group, but if I go as myself it has no impact. It helps to give power and a voice to an issue.” Kekeletso wants the Department of Health to make pregnancies of a minor a notifiable incident. She believes that it should be the obligation of every healthcare professional, from the doctor to the doula, to report and that they should be held legally accountable for doing so. The online petition provides the foundation for Kekeletso to push for a safer society for every girl. It is all part of her mission to look after everyone around her, a value that her father instilled in her from an early age. “I come from the school of thought that says we are for each other. I am born to be of service which means we need to show up fully every day.“ < Previous Item Next Item >

28 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Njabulo Zulu The teen who turns bullies into buddies Njabulo Zulu at her school Njabulo Zulu was bullied at primary school. The dark complexion of her skin and the texture of her hair made her prey for the other kids who were looking for an easy target. One day three boys came to class, two of them held her down while the other grabbed her hair, to “check if it was real”. Little did they know that their cruelty would light a fire in her that changed the conversation around bullying for hundreds of school kids in the township of Soshanguve. At 10 years old Njabulo decided that she wanted to deliver an anti-bullying message to her whole school through a presentation at morning assembly. Her message was simple, “Don’t be a bully, be a buddy”, and her short but direct speech immediately changed the way that other kids saw her. Seven years later, Njabulo has delivered countless motivational speeches at schools around Soshanguve and beyond. Over the years, she has broadened her message to include teenage pregnancy, substance abuse and social media addiction, but her matter-of-fact approach remains the same. After the first speech, kids started to approach her, in person and over social media to tell her about their problems and ask her for advice. She has always been keen to help and she felt a responsibility towards every one of them, so she answered their messages; listening, giving support and advice. Through a close relationship with her mum and a growing network of professional contacts, she manages her responsibility to the people who contact her, referring them to professionals when needed. “I’m so in love with helping people, talking to people, giving advice and solutions. I love counselling people.” Over the years the number of people who approach Njabulo has risen dramatically. She estimates that through Facebook she now receives around 70 messages a week from people asking for help. And it’s not just kids. Adults get in touch with her to unload about their marriages and life problems, and parents contact her to ask for advice about connecting with their children, something that Njabulo feels unqualified to deal with, but responsible to support. “My faith that I have in being able to change just one person's life - that gives me hope to do my work. ” Njabulo is not an attention-seeking teenager, she is softly spoken and thoughtful. But she does recognise that she has a gift for motivating people. Through a self-produced TV show called “Trusted Talks”, she has taken her talents to the next level. In its third season, and broadcast on Soweto TV, the talk show deals with mental health and the daily challenges faced by teenagers. This year Njabulo is also running a campaign to promote the equal treatment of the deaf community. To do this she is learning Sign Language and hosting a public performance that will showcase the talents of deaf people in the community. You may be wondering if all of this is leading to a life of professional counselling. Quite possibly yes, but Njabulo has varied interests and will pursue multiple dreams: Whilst studying psychology and Sign Language at university, she also wants to train to be a food analyst and pastry chef. < Previous Item Next Item >

45 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Sesi Mahlangu Restoring dignity with new school shoes Sesi Mahlangu outside her home in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng The butterfly effect describes how one small action can have considerable repercussions. Sometimes it’s the simple ideas that can make a huge impact on another person’s life. Sesi Mahlangu is on a mission to give young learners new school shoes. This is her simple idea. It is the backbone of her organisation, Dream Foundation. She believes that a decent pair of shoes can give a child dignity and pride, changing the way they see themselves and the way that they engage with others. By ticking off one of the many items on the worry list of young learners in Ekhuruleni, she believes that they will engage in school a little more, be bullied a little less and walk a little taller. She understands that many kids also need uniforms, textbooks, transport and food, but a decent pair of shoes is a start. “My dream is for them to focus on what they need to focus on. Not having shoes to wear should not be their responsibility.” Sesi’s parents died when she was very young and she was raised by her older sister and her husband, who she now refers to as her parents. She grew up in a family that supported her in every way that they could. It was the realisation that other kids at her school could not afford a pair of shoes that inspired Sesi and her friend to save their money and buy a pair for one of their classmates. In 2019, at the age of 21, Sesi started Dream Foundation and launched a social media campaign to collect 59 pairs of shoes for school children in her community. The next year they managed to collect 89 pairs. Each year they will approach a school and ask the teachers to identify learners who do not have the means to buy shoes. As well as the shoe drive, they also run yearly workshops, called “I’m Complete”, for 50 girls. The program helps them to deal with issues related to GBV, self esteem and teenage pregnancy. They have also started a boy’s camp that aims to get young men talking openly about their struggles and steering them in the direction of becoming more meaningful members of society. “I just have this fire in my heart for the youth, a love for the youth. What my parents gave me, that’s the inspiration. The love that they gave me I want to put out to others that didn’t receive what I got.” This year Sesi wants to raise 120 pairs of shoes for learners in Ekhuruleni. Shoes can be bought for between R250-R300 and are needed in sizes 1-5. To donate a pair, please visit The Actionists website for more details. < Previous Item Next Item >

75 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Norma Mbele Standing alongside victims of GBV Norma Mbele surrounded by her crime scene activism props As with so many Actionists, Norma Mbele found her calling through her own traumatic experience. Whilst staying in a women's shelter, as a survivor of a rape for which she never got justice, she experienced the way that many women are treated while seeking protection from the perpetrator. The long ordeal of getting justice for gender-based violence is a lonely and isolating experience that Norma vowed she would not let other women go through alone. So she started the NGO Tosunga Baninga. Tosunga Baninga is a Lingala phrase from the DRC that means ‘helping you to help others’. As a passionate believer in diversity, it was important for Norma to name the organisation with a phrase that was not from one of the South African languages. She wanted it to reflect the positive cultural diversity which she experiences in her community and which she seeks to promote through her work. Tosunga Baninga is a Gender-Based Violence support organisation. Their mission is to assist the victims of GBV whilst also educating the broader community. Their approach, however, is slightly different than you might imagine… When Norma left the shelter she committed to helping other women who were victims of gender-based violence. She had no idea how she was going to achieve her goal, but she was steadfast in the conviction that such a lonely road to justice needs support. From visiting the court proceedings she observed that the perpetrators often had many more supporters in the courtroom than the victims and she watched as, on multiple occasions, the authorities treated the perpetrators more kindly than the victims. Norma started to turn up at the trials holding hand-written cardboard signs outside the courthouse containing generic messages of support for the victims. As the trials progressed, she started to include quotes from the court proceedings in her messaging. In time, her team began sitting inside the courtroom wearing t-shirts with quotes from the previous day's proceedings on them, making it clear that every word was being heard and noted by the victim’s support team. When it became clear that these techniques were having an impact Norma started experimenting with even more powerful ideas. What began as a need to show solidarity and to prove that supporters were watching and ready to hold the authorities accountable, quickly evolved into a very powerful form of visual activism. In 2018 Tosunga Baninga recreated their first crime scene outside a court. They wanted to raise public awareness of the crimes and, more importantly, to force a sense of accountability and shame onto the perpetrators and their supporters as they entered and left the courthouse. Working with the full consent of the victim's families, they use “bodies” under blankets, crime scene tape, props and clothing to stage the scenes informed by the details that were available about the crime. “The first one was Nomatjala in 2018 on the street outside the court of Sebokeng. Her mother had never seen her body at the scene. We recreated it and the mother almost collapsed. We started at 7.30 am so that everyone going to work would see it. It was a way for the mother to get closure. She walked into the court with anger and sat on the front row for the first time.” They also “carry the bruises and the scars of the victims”, often sitting in the courtroom with bullet wounds and bruises painted on them in the positions of the original injuries. “We are in solidarity with all women who have been assaulted and are covering bruises under their makeup. We are carrying these bruises so that other women are not alone. I walked the journey alone and I made the promise that no other woman would walk the journey alone. “ Although Norma has nearly been killed, her home shot at and her windowsill smudged with blood, she is not going to back down. She knows that there are voices that she needs to make heard and memories that she needs to keep alive for justice to be served. “Sometimes you fear for your life but, at the same time, you cannot walk away. In this country, whether you fight or don't fight the statistic of women being killed is very high. It’s better for women to make noise and fight. “ This story was created in partnership with Heinrich Böll Foundation < Previous Item Next Item >

53 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Dudu Makhubo Mentoring boys to tackle toxic masculinity Dudu Makhubo at home in Thembilihle As a mentor to kids in the township of Thembilihle, Dudu feels passionately that her energy should be focused on the young boys in her community. “I think that society forgets about the boy child and the boy child is very important to the community. If you raise one boy right it means that you could be avoiding crime, rape, and all the other bad things that can be done by men. If you can educate a boy with the mindset that they can make a change to society then it makes a huge difference.” Through her voluntary work as a member of the community youth club, she believes that she has a platform to deal with toxic masculinity, drugs and alcohol abuse. This, says Dudu, is achieved through education. The youth club is basically a mentorship program for 15 kids in the Thembilihle community. It is overseen and supported by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation. The kids are aged 15-25 and their mentors are 26-35. It is the mentors who decide how to empower the community through the younger members. In Thembilihle their focus is on education so they support their kids through an after-school Maths and Science program, encouraging them to attend the free classes and assisting them when they need help. They also take the kids to a variety of community events and show them how they can play a more active role in the community. “Whatever it is that we do it is about empowering their minds and changing the narrative that if you are from an informal settlement you cannot be educated.” Activism has always been in Dudu’s family. Her mother has been a very active member of the community since the youth movements of 1976, opening up her house as the meeting point for PAC meetings during the liberation struggle. She later became a vocal opponent to several attempts to forcibly remove people from Thembilihle. “We want to see a change in the community, our parents have done what they could but it’s up to us whether we continue from where they stopped or leave things as they are. As the youth we have the power to make things happen.” It seems that many young people in South Africa feel so disenfranchised that it renders them powerless to even conceive of being part of a positive change in the country. Even at such a young age Dudu already recognises that through education, even the smallest change that she can make in another person’s life can have the power to brighten their future and that of the community around them. < Previous Item Next Item >

23 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Nathi Mazibuko The security guard feeding the homeless Nathi Mazibuko in the Flames of Hope Office in Hillbrow, Gauteng The night-time fires that Nathi Mazibuko built during his shifts as a security guard were simply meant to ward off the piercing cold on winter nights, yet they drew others towards him, inadvertently sparking his journey as an Actionist. Working in downtown Johannesburg was a lonely experience until he invited others to sit with him around his fire. Over time, he formed relationships with street kids and sex workers, learning about their life experiences first-hand. From these relationships grew his passion to make a difference in people’s lives, ultimately planning to open an orphanage and drug rehabilitation centre in the future. Although his resources were limited, his ambitions weren’t. Armed with nothing but the encouragement of a friend, he decided to start. Nathi borrowed money from some friends, cooked a meal of rice and beef stew and took it to a nearby park to offer the homeless people who lived there a decent meal. This is how the Flames of Hope Foundation was started. “I was very happy, it was like a dream come true. Because it had always been in my heart that, one day, if I could get enough money, I want to do this.” The informal feeding scheme turned into a weekly event, cooking and serving food in the park, using his own money to fund the initiative. Soon he was offered a space at the Twilight Children’s Home in Hillbrow, Johannesburg where he now runs a feeding scheme every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3 p.m. Up to 500 people turn up for every meal. The children are served first and then the adults. After the meal, the children are invited to join an after-school programme which provides extra lessons to around 100 kids, six days a week, in partnership with Innovation of Excellence. For the first two years, Nathi paid for everything from his own salary but Flames of Hope now has financial support and food donations from various sponsors including The Angel Network SA, One Moment Foundation, Pauli's Food Company and Gift Of The Givers. “I’ve realised that if you do this community work and expect someone to say ‘thank you’, you will get disappointed. You do it for the sake of helping.” For both the feeding scheme and the after-school programme Nathi relies on the help of volunteers from the local community. His passion and enthusiasm for change is what keeps them coming back, day after day. His dedication is astonishing. Nathi still works a 12-hour night shift as a security guard from 6pm to 6am. He then runs the foundation during the day, leaving very little time for sleep. < Previous Item Next Item >