82 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Selokela ‘Slu’ Molamodi Radio host encouraging the youth to vote Selokela ‘Slu’ Molamodi at the radio station where she hosts a show Slu is a self-professed conversationalist. She is the host of Hope Alive Breakfast, an online radio show, a writer, and a passionate advocate for a GBV-free society who has been a leader all her life. A prefect in both primary and high school she now extends her influence towards uplifting and empowering communities to speak up, find a voice and get involved. As a policy champion at Activate, Slu works as part of a group of young people who host nationwide voter registration workshops. Together they teach communities how government structures work and how they can get involved, alongside the importance of participating in the IDP process, and voting. She does this as part of their change-drivers youth network, bringing young leaders together from across the country through leadership training, and access to different opportunities. Slu joined Generation G in 2020, a coalition between ActionAid, Activate and Sonke Gender Justice, mobilising young people towards building a GBV-free society. Through research, they found that many young people are not interested in the development of their communities because they do not feel included. “We needed to get young people involved in fighting GBV in our communities. I was one of the champions based in Tembisa. I was chosen because at the time Generation G was focusing on the hotspots and Tembisa was one of them in South Africa. Corrective rape, homophobic killings and other forms of GBV were common.“ Being the champion meant that Slu became the leader of conversations in Tembisa around stakeholder relations. She had to rally and mobilise community-based organisations that are working towards the same goals as Generation G. She would facilitate community dialogues where she learned that it is not just GBV organisations that should be in the conversations, it became clear that economic power is an important issue to address, so local businesses had to be brought into the conversations as well. “As a champion, you are not going into the communities with a solution. I would create a safe space, invite community members and ask them to bring others to the dialogue. Statistically, women are the victims or survivors so mostly it was women who turned up. But after the dialogues, we would just send them home to the same situation. We needed a new approach. We needed to speak to young men in the community and ask them to invite their male friends. The conversations were not about bashing men but about understanding each other and working towards a common goal.” “Even issues as small as pronouns are a difficult thing for township communities to understand. They are having to learn a new language. My job was always to step in and remind people that this is a safe space. The conversation around respect and compassion, where inclusivity is concerned, is one that arose when we were doing GBV workshops.” Being a facilitator is one of Slu’s most important roles. And one that demands understanding and patience. When you are dealing with a diverse group of people you have to understand that a single conversation is not going to make a difference. Sometimes you need to extend grace to the people you lead and serve. But more importantly, you need to learn to see them and take a moment to understand them. That kind of approach has helped me in my advocacy work in adulthood.” Slu is currently in her second year of journalism studies at Rosebank College in Braamfontein, driven by the ambition to be the most influential talk radio host in the country. In that position, she says, she will be able to keep the conversation about GBV alive and play a pivotal role in the evolution of the conversation in pursuit of a safer society for everyone. In addition to all of this slu is a facilitator and schools outreach manager at Qrate, an organisation that aims to spread period positivity through menstrual workshops across the country. This story was created in partnership with Action Aid < Previous Item Next Item >

20 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Gideon Swart The cafe that's fighting human traficking Gideon Swart at the Wild Cactus Cafe, Pretoria From a small cafe on the corner of a nondescript road in the suburbs of Pretoria, Gideon Swart has created a space for kindness, love and community to thrive, and it all started with a coffee truck and a mission to connect with people. As I leave the Wild Cactus Café after the interview, Samuel, the car guard from next door, greets us. “Are you hungry?” asks Gideon. “Come inside and have something to eat.” This is the generosity that he seems to extend to everyone he meets. By his own admission, it is not the greatest way to run a profitable business but Gideon isn’t driven by money. Yes, he needs to keep the lights on and the rent paid but his motivation is in changing the people around him and creating a space where that change to happen. “We started the coffee shop as a beacon of hope, where everyone belongs, from the CEO to the homeless guy.” In 2019 Gideon and his wife, Olivia, gave up their jobs as pastors and opened a coffee truck which, over the years, has grown into a formal café. From the very beginning, they committed to feeding the homeless people who would pass by, offering them coffee and a chocolate croissant, no questions asked. Over time, Gideon got to know the regulars, engaging with them and finding ways to help them off the streets and, if necessary, into rehab. His actions became an example to all of his customers and, before long, a culture of generosity started to emerge within the coffee shop. It became normal for customers to pay for the food and drinks of others who may not have the means. From this arose a pay-it-forward system where customers can add extra coffees to their bill which the baristas then use, at their discretion, to give out when someone is in need. Starting in 2014 Gideon has committed himself to raising awareness of human trafficking, using the café as a base for his Actionism. After learning about the true scale of the issue, and how it operates in close proximity to where he lives, he discovered the NPO Brave To Love which provides medical, psychological and emotional support to victims of sex trafficking. In collaboration with Brave To Love, he has been working on ways to raise awareness of the issues. The coffee shop was designated as a donation centre and customers were asked to drop off blankets, toys and bedding to help with the various programmes of rehabilitation. Gideon is also raising awareness through running. On the 30th of September, he will be competing in the gruelling 75km Maxi Race in the Cape Winelands. Throughout his training, he has been making a noise on social media and through radio interviews. At the race itself, he will be raising money and drawing attention to South Africa's sex trafficking issues. If you are not one of the 2000 ultra runners heading to the Cape for the Maxi Race and you want to know more, pop in for a coffee at the Wild Cactus Café. If you do, before you leave, don’t forget to buy someone else a coffee and a chocolate croissant. < Previous Item Next Item >

The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close The Actionists was created in 2023 by Thom Pierce as a visual response to the narrative that nothing positive was happening in South Africa. Originally published in Daily Maverick, the campaign drew attention to the unsung heroes of South Africa who are working tirelessly to create a more fair and equal society for all. It quickly developed into a valuable collection of community champions around the country. The mission is to create an ongoing database of inspiring profiles and connect them with aligned organisations to publicly showcase and celebrate their valuable work. The Actionists is funded through partnerships with organisations who want to champion individuals who are creating a positive change across South Africa. THE ACTIONISTS PARTNER WITH US GET IN TOUCH

74 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Mphatheleni Makaulule Food security through indigenous knowledge Mphatheleni in her garden at home in Limpopo Mphatheleni was born in Venda to a father who was a traditional healer, community leader and farmer. He raised her with a deep indigenous spiritual knowledge which she has carried with her throughout her life. However, growing up in a modern, capitalist society, shaped by apartheid and colonialism she found herself distanced from her traditional values and by the time she finished her education, she was ready to reassess. Once Mphathi had finished university, she returned to her community with a deep sense of being lost in the modern world and around this time, she became very unwell and was diagnosed with pulmonary TB and admitted to the hospital for treatment. After a short period, she discharged herself from the hospital, deciding to live alone in the mountains for 2 years, eating all-natural food, breathing fresh air and drinking water from the streams. Although she continued to return to the hospital for regular check-ups, she took her health into her own hands, informed by traditional ways of living. Within the first year, she had regained her health through a combination of healthy living, modern medication and hospital visits. In 1998, together with the community, Mphathi started “Mupo,” a programme aimed at organising community elders, youth and children to remember the indigenous knowledge and value of Nature. The objective was to revive and practice indigenous systems and teach spirituality as the guidance of life. It was a space where people would visit with an open mind to engage. “You cannot disconnect from the indigenous ways, everything embraces that knowledge. For the VhaVendha people, everything we do is connected with spirituality and our ancestors' ways. “ Mphatheleni is passionate about inter-generational learning to revive indigenous knowledge and practices through community dialogues, workshops and research techniques. As part of her training, she travelled to the Amazon in 2006 and 2008 to learn about reviving indigenous knowledge. In Colombia, she learnt about eco-mapping, a way to represent a community's relationship to the world around them visually. Through community dialogues, a territory is drawn, from the largest to the smallest elements, the mountains to the stones and insects. The past, present and future are mapped out through memories and projections, and discussions are facilitated about what has been lost, and what needs to be regained for society to be healthy. The process includes traditional healing, commons (how people live together), the importance of animals, and climate change. It gives people an overview of who they are and where they live. Every community finds its unique vision of what it has lost and what it wants to bring back. “A lot of life has been lost in the mountains. Animals have been displaced, rivers are no longer flowing, and the habitat is no longer the same. When we do eco-mapping we can see climate change. We map the territory and the seasonal calendar. Rain has changed, and plants are not bearing fruit, the rivers are getting dry. We have lost who we are. At the centre of the huge circle of everything is the human being. “ Mupo is focussing on eco-mapping in different areas around Venda to teach the youth about the severe challenges of food and water security. Mphathi, who has been involved in sessions of eco-mapping in the Eastern Cape, Humansdorp and Jefrreysbay, believes that if they can connect the dots between the source of the water, the land, food and seed systems, they can start to develop a deep, meaningful connection to their environment, and work to protect it for future generations. The importance of eco-mapping cannot be underestimated. Particularly key for South Africans is that it allows communities to reclaim their histories, their connection to land and resources that were stolen through apartheid and colonialism. It facilitates the building of a collective shared narrative that is the basis of community power and contributes towards the ability to engage meaningfully with developers, the state, or other groups. Recently it has been used as a tool for challenging the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) and preparing communities in the Eastern Cape for meaningful engagement on issues relating to nuclear, gas, oil and H2. This story was created in partnership with Heinrich Böll Foundation < Previous Item Next Item >

65 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Yolanda Dyantyi Advocating for her right to education Yolanda Dyantyi in Johannesburg Yolanda’s story is quite well known. Whilst a second-year student she led the #RUReferenceList anti-rape culture protests at Rhodes University; and a year later was excluded from higher education for life. She did not get to finish her course, did not receive a degree and would not have been accepted into any other institute of higher education. In 2022 her right to higher education was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court of Appeals judgement when it set aside all the alleged charges instituted against her. They tried to silence her, tried to punish her for speaking out, yet she just got louder. “I aim to inspire young women with my journey, and to encourage passionate young people to find their voices…I want my story to inspire change. I want my story to contribute towards birthing new and positive realities for Africans.” Yolanda gets her fire from her Grandmother, the woman who raised her whilst working as a domestic worker in a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg. As a strong leader and preacher in the Zionist Church, she taught Yolanda to stand up for herself and gave her the confidence to know that she would always be supported. From a young age, Yolanda learned to speak up against injustice. Cut to 2016, and there she is fighting on the front lines at her own place of learning. As a survivor of rape at the university the previous year, she did what was in her blood and she led from the front, demanding accountability and justice for the numerous young women who had been victims of sexual assault at the University. “I should have been focusing on studying but I was leading a political struggle - I can’t separate the two, we weren’t safe.” From this experience, she realised the power of her story and the part that she has played in the important contribution of women activists in South Africa. And so she keeps up the fight, day in and day out, finding ways to disrupt the patriarchal violence that has been deeply sewn into the fabric of our society. She is currently an award-winning social entrepreneur building an African Feminist digital archive memorialising African women's work and their contribution towards social justice. Watch Yolanda’s Journey To Justice and follow her Instagram @archiveamabali_wethu < Previous Item Next Item >

22 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Sharne Jacobs Creating a safe space for skater girls Sharne Jacobs at the skate park, Gauteng Sharne Jacobs is worried that the world will always stereotype skateboarders as a nuisance. It felt for a long time that the sport that changed her life would never be taken seriously in South Africa. That was until it was accepted into the Olympic Games and the public perception slowly started to shift. At the age of 13, Sharne would go to skate parks to diligently practice a skill that she enjoyed, and that gave her an escape from the rest of the world. She was the only girl at the park and, after a while, the intimidation that she felt from the boys became too much and forced her away. It wasn’t until her mid-twenties, that a friend invited her to try again and she rediscovered her passion for skateboarding. Even though thirteen years had passed, it still didn’t feel like a place for women and girls to thrive. Sharne realised the need for a safe space for girls to be able to learn together and committed herself to creating just that. But skateboarding is a curious discipline that, rather than being lauded as a highly skilled craft, is all too often dismissed as a playground for bored teenagers. The scrapes and slides of wood on concrete, the rattling of wheels, the ugly concrete arena, the tattoos, the wardrobe, and the graffiti that adorns the walls of many skate parks, all combine to give skating a bad reputation. But, there are a variety of valuable life skills that can be learned at the skate park. Skateboarding is essentially a solo endeavour, the mastery of which can only be achieved through diligent practice, commitment and risk-taking. It teaches the learner to get back up and try again, even when it hurts. Patience, persistence and confidence are needed to slowly perfect technical skills, combining them into a series of finely crafted tricks. It is also a highly social sport. The skate parks are home to many, a place for people to come together and learn, help, compete and share their experiences. It can be therapy for some, and a healthy outlet of energy for others. “People have come from broken homes and places where they are not exposed to good energy and learning. Skating teaches you life lessons, it can be wholesome.” These are all the aspects of skateboarding that Sharne loves, and all the positive experiences that she wants to pass on to other girls. So in 2015, she started Girl Skate South Africa, a safe space for girls to come and learn skateboarding whilst at the same time finding a community of like-minded people who want to practice a new skill, surrounded by support and encourangement. Up to 60 girls come to a session and they are now hosting lessons and events around the country. “I just want to see people get the same enjoyment as I have. And do their best. It has helped me with my confidence and grown me as a person. I was super shy and unapproachable before.” Sharne is also working to bring skating to other communities that could benefit from the experience of learning new skills. Together with Rare Bear and Beauty from Ashes she has built a small skate park at a community centre in the informal settlement of Kya Sands where poverty and unemployment have contributed heavily towards the disempowerment of the youth. The skate park provides them with a new focus and an empowering skill that also deepens a sense of hope that there is more out in the world for them. It may take a while for skateboarding to shake off its bad reputation but, in the meantime, Sharne is giving young girls hope, confidence, and a new set of skills. That doesn’t sound like too much of a nuisance. < 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 >

8 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Jess Robus Mental wellness for kids and teens Jess Robus , Pretoria It is not often that you meet someone who is so clearly walking their own path through life, and exuding generosity and compassion with almost every step. Especially if they are only 17. Within the first five minutes of my whirlwind of a conversation with Jess Robus, she had taken me through the provenance of some of her favourite Afrikaans words, all told with the delight of someone who clearly enjoys the idiosyncratic development of language. She also told me of her recent diagnosis with autism which in her own words “made a lot of things make sense”. At 12, Jess wrote a children's book called “Arnold The Not Dinosaur”. It is a story about panic attacks, identity, self-acceptance and being unique, that may well help children to grow up feeling less alone. A “Few Slivers of Light” is a collection of poems that Jess wrote between the ages of 11 and 14. It is a journey from despair to hope in three parts; The Darkness, The Dawn and The Day. “As scary as it can be to put some things out, I knew I could help others and I wanted to do that. I felt a responsibility to help people feel validated in their struggles.” She isn’t concerned about selling a lot of books. Her goal is to communicate a message of understanding and unity. “I was inspired by a musician called Dodi, who wrote about panic attacks and depression. It was so wonderful to hear something so poetic and candid about these things. I saw mental health issues in my friends’ lives and the extreme toll that it took on themselves and their families. I wanted to tell teenagers that they weren’t alone and that their struggles were shared.” Jess is busy studying for her Matric but in her spare time, she does motivational talks at schools around Gauteng aimed at children, high school students, neurodiverse learners and parents. “The first school talk I ever did was at Kingsmead. A girl came and gave me a hug and said ‘I have never felt more seen’. I realised that by helping just one person, everything I wanted to do with the book, I had done.” Both of Jess’s books can be purchased through select bookstores, online retailers or directly from her website www.jessrobus.com . < Previous Item Next Item >

69 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Nonhle Mbuthuma Protecting the Wild Coast from mining Nonhle Mbuthuma on the red sands of Xolobeni During the apartheid era, the five villages of Amadiba were united in their opposition to South Africa’s discriminatory political system. Two decades on, they are divided by a deadly conflict over an Australian company’s plan to open a titanium mine. Nonhle Mbuthuma leads the Amadiba Crisis Committee, which opposes the excavation of dunes and plains along the Wild Coast by an Australian mining company. She fears the project would force villagers off their farms and damage the region’s ecology. “We have told the company many times that we don’t want their mine. How many times do we have to say no?” — Nonhle Mbuthuma The Amadiba chieftain, who is from a less-affected village further inland, supports the mining plan, which claims to have a low impact and bring in revenues of £140m each year. The conflict has led to beatings, threats, and suspicious deaths of members of the Amadiba Crisis Committee, including the 2017 murder of the group’s previous leader Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe. Mbuthuma has been warned she is next on the hit list. But she is pushing ahead with a legal challenge that aims to assert the right of consent for indigenous groups. < Previous Item Next Item >

57 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close John GI Clarke Supporting whistleblowers for justice John Clarke at home in Johannesburg John Clarke is a social worker who, through a deep-seated obligation to challenge social injustice, turns his work into activism time and time again. Although he professes to be merely upholding his role as a social worker, his passion for political, economic and environmental justice comes through in the lengths to which he will go to get justice. Not only is he a passionate advocate for the rights of his clients, but he takes on the broader issues that they have taught him about. He then writes, campaigns and makes films about them; anything that he can do to engage a wider audience and get the stories heard. It should be noted that he does this whilst simultaneously providing his clients with safe counsel and respecting the strict code of practice that social workers have towards client confidentiality. His work has led him to work closely with the Amadiba Crisis Committee in their fight to save the community of Xolobeni from an Australian mining company that wanted to develop the land. More recently, arising from lessons learned from the Amadiba experience, he now works to support whistleblowers in Africa facing harsh retaliation. “Social workers are not meant to become the story, but it was time to start putting my head above the parapet here… It’s not what social workers should be doing, but the exceptional nature of the country we live in means that we have got to do exceptional things.” His social conscience developed as a young man when he became a conscientious objector after spending a year as a non-combatant in the South African Defence Force - through this experience he was forced to evaluate his own values and the impact that he wanted to make with his life. “Our growth and development as human beings is a simultaneous process of self-reflection into your own conscience and an outward journey to consciousness” Over the years his conscience has led him into some sticky situations with lawsuits and threats from powerful people that he is unafraid to call out. But John keeps on going, speaking truth about a power that really doesn’t want you to hear it. Read more from John on his website www.icosindaba.co.za or his Medium page here. You can follow John on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook: @icosindaba < Previous Item Next Item >