12 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Desmond D'Sa Battling air, water & land pollution Desmond D’Sa at his office in Wentworth, KZN The list of organisations that Demond D’Sa has been instrumental in forming is overwhelming: RIGHT2KNOW KZN Subsistence Fisherfolks Poor Flatdwellers Movement South Durban Community Environmental Alliance KZN Environmental Alliance Coalition of the Poor As he reels them off, it is hard not to wonder why they are all necessary. But, as he expands on his experience as an environmental activist, it becomes clear that he knows there is strength in numbers. He is also passionate about including everybody in his mission to provide a more just society as well as a healthier and cleaner world for all. Desmond grew up in Cato Manor, KwaZulu Natal. At the time, it was a lush area with clean, fresh water. There was healthy soil to grow food and ample space to enjoy being part of a diverse and generous community. As the 11th of 13 children, he learned how to share and how to care about the people around him. It was at 15 years old that life changed dramatically. In 1966, the family was split apart and removed from Cato Manor as part of the Group Areas Act. He was relocated to a flat in Wentworth with his mother where he still lives to this day. Desmond’s journey into activism started in 1998 while he was working at an acrylic factory making fibre for clothing and blankets. He noticed that many of his colleagues were becoming sick from working with the toxic liquid chemical acrylonitrile. They were being dismissed by the factory clinic without any concern or treatment, and so he decided to investigate. While his bosses were “sleeping on the job”, Desmond would steal whatever paperwork he could find and take it home to read up about the risks that they were exposed to. After he started asking questions and speaking up at work about the dangers, he was dismissed from his job. This experience lit a fire in him and inspired him to understand the true extent of the damage that the petrochemical industry in Durban was causing to its workers and the communities living around the factories. From that point on, it has been a life mission for Desmond to be the protector of air, water and land pollution, not only in Wentworth but around the country. From a small office building in Wentworth, he started the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance which has grown to become a team of nine people who work tirelessly to monitor pollution levels from local industries. Through a programme of community engagement, regular patrols, a network of whistle-blowers, and monitoring techniques for air, water and soil, they keep an eye on the whole city and, when the pollution levels get too high, they know who to hold accountable. “We are more than a watchdog, the officials don't even know what is going on. We hammer them, we put pressure when we need to.” With over 25 years of experience as an environmental activist, Desmond has learned how to fight and how to get his message heard. He is so passionate about his role as an environmental protector that, from the outside, his workload and responsibility to the community can seem overwhelming. But, having had these values instilled in him from a very young age, hard work and helping others is second nature to Desmond. “My mother and father were always about service. If anyone knocked on the door and asked for anything they would give it. We never hoarded money. We were taught to be providers. As long as we work hard, things will work out.“ < Previous Item Next Item >

80 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Mamiki Masilo Educating the youth on sexual health rights Mamiki Masilo at the Afrika Tikkun Centre, Johannesburg In grade 10, Mamiki was given a challenge at school to get involved with a community project for Mandela Day. Like many people around South Africa, she set about trying to find a way to ‘donate’ her 67 minutes to a good cause. Little did she know that this would be the turning point in her life, setting her on a path towards community activism. She discovered the AfriKa Tikkun Centre in downtown Johannesburg when she approached the children's hospital next door to donate her time. After volunteering in the library, and working with the child and youth development beneficiaries, she joined as a beneficiary herself at the age of 16. “I wouldn’t be who I am today if I wasn't given those opportunities. That’s where my love for community began. The manager at the time was very passionate about youth development. I learned all about advocacy, development and community.“ Interested in current affairs and the development of communities, she chose a course in public management and governance at the University, furthering her education with a master's degree in monitoring and evaluation. At the same time, she joined the ActionAid Young Urban Women programme. The support groups operate through the Afrika Tikkun Center, and this is where Mamiki was introduced to them. It was the perfect place for her to further her networks and get involved with advocacy around the country. Through a twice-monthly meeting with over 150 participants, they discuss sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), decent work, GBV and economic development, focusing on empowering the individuals and running campaigns as a group. Mamiki has now taken on a leadership role at YUW, looking for opportunities for young people to learn. “I care because I exist within this environment. I care because the people I engage with are also facing the same troubles that I am facing. I care because if we aren't going to try we are going to be despondent. You can't change the world but the little you do can impact one person and a few people.” In recent years ActionAid has shifted its focus towards economic development and the importance of developing an understanding of economics for young people so they focus on austerity and how it affects people daily. Low-income workers often don’t get a chance to understand austerity so they run workshops that teach about tax justice, public budgets and the tools needed for more effective advocacy.” “We suffer the greatest as young people and we suffer from the mistakes of the elders. We suffer from the promises that they made and it's in our hands to craft our future. I know how it is to be unemployed and to worry about whether you will be able to support your family.” It’s through her family that Mamiki came to care so much about the people around her and develop a deep-rooted passion for community and empowerment. “My dad was a person who cared so much about education and current affairs. He used to preach the importance of developing community. I feel like any work I had done that didn't pertain to community development would have made me miserable.” “Knowing that the next person has gained something. I think that is the basis of human happiness. I don't think it comes from your selfish desires. I think seeing the next person gain something brings the ultimate happiness.” This story was created in partnership with Action Aid < Previous Item Next Item >

5 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Arnold Sibanda Saluting black male positivity Arnold Sibanda outside 27 boxes in Melville, Johannesburg The inspiration to create the Black Male Positivity Project came from a painful loss for Arnold Sibanda. Just before the birth of his son, Arnold’s father passed away. A principled man with strong values, who had Arnold’s best intentions at heart, his father was his role model and his greatest supporter. When he passed, Arnold realised that he needed a support system to navigate his own new journey of fatherhood, to bring up his son in a way that would make his father proud. It was from this that the Black Male Positivity Project was born. Through the project, Arnold runs a collection of programmes that serve to inspire, empower and support Black men and boys in their journey to become more positive members of society. He wants to redress the tired stereotypes and provide the tools needed to provide a more favourable example of what it means to be a Black man in South Africa. “With the increasing reporting of Black men being the victims or perpetrators of violence, we want to spotlight the positive achievements and roles of Black men in their communities. If young men continually see themselves represented in the media in a negative way, it does not give them a lot to look up to. Neither does it help to change the trajectory of their lives.” The idea is to celebrate Black men who are positive role models in society, in order to create a space for discussion and learning through honest reflection. And to facilitate healing through the unlearning of cultural or patriarchal practices that do not serve the best interests of modern life in a 21st-century society. Arnold believes that by engaging with the stories of Black men that break the prevailing narrative, whether it be through in-person discussion or through literature, he can help to change the future for young men who are trying to navigate a world that they have not been properly equipped to deal with. “In our recent support group meeting I realised that most brothers are parenting through generational trauma, and are not aware of it. It is through the understanding of issues such as the impact of the migrant labour system on Black fatherhood, that we can develop appropriate support systems for modern, young Black men.” The values of family commitment, leadership and support are achieved through several different programmes which have been developed to provide men and boys of all ages with a range of tools to facilitate growth. For the younger generations, Arnold has identified the need for opportunities and skills development that facilitate engagement with positive stories. To do this the project provides an ongoing mentorship programme which pairs young boys with positive male role models in their communities, an after-school homework programme and a school-based literacy initiative. For the adults, they host a variety of support groups that deal with issues such as sexual health, new fatherhood and paternity rights. They also have a curated online bookshop that focuses on relatable stories by Black, African, male authors. Together with the NPO Heartlines, they host an annual Father’s Day bike ride which brings a wide community of men together, to connect, celebrate and support each other on a long-term basis. Through the project, Arnold wants to support fathers to raise boys who are emotionally balanced, confident communicators, who can articulate their fears in a healthy way. Young men who can pursue their dreams safely in the knowledge that they have support. You can probably tell that Arnold is also passionate about books. He gets that from his dad. < Previous Item Next Item >

19 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Jesse Naidoo & Tammy Greyling Recycling for the community Jesse Naidoo and Tammy Greyling in Pretoria Clothes To Good started by accident. In 2011 Jesse Naidoo’s golf club was running a promotion that promised a pair of golf shoes to anyone who paid their club fees early. Jesse took the offer and gifted his pair of shoes to Lucky Madiba, his club caddy of 10 years. As a result of accepting the gift, Lucky lost his job due to an altercation with the caddy master who wanted the new pair. Jesse decided to help Lucky and his wife to start a used clothes reselling business. They appealed to parents from Crawford Pretoria International School for donations to support recycling and enterprise development. They received over 4.7 tonnes of clothing. Realising that this was too much for Lucky to deal with, Jesse took on three more people who sorted through and resold the clothing donations that steadily built over a short period of time. Twelve years later and Clothes To Good is a much bigger operation. They employ 35 people, support 108 micro-businesses and have high-level partnerships with H&M and Levi’s; and an ongoing collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger to produce ‘Nim Nims’; weighted blankets for people living with autism, anxiety and ADHD. They recycle between 15 and 20 tonnes of used clothes that are sorted into three recycling categories; Items for Reuse - selling good quality clothes to micro-businesses at a heavily discounted price for the purpose of resale. Items for Up-cycling - using material from used clothes to make weighted blankets, recondition wheelchairs, toys and other sustainability projects. Items for Down-cycling - breaking down fibres to provide materials to the bedding, building and motoring industries in order to reduce their environmental footprint, and divert clothes and shoes from landfills. It is through a collaboration with Tammy Greyling, who came on board as a health professional (Occupational Therapist) with broad experience working with people with disabilities, that Clothes to Good branched into new projects that focused on people with disabilities and early childhood development. In fact, these projects are so important to them that they will proudly tell you that 56 out of 108 micro-businesses that they support are run by mothers of children with disabilities. They also work with 148 early childhood development centres and helped seven people with disabilities get employment in H&M’s distribution centre, to which they provide ongoing support through their team of disability inclusion specialists, as part of the OnRoute Life-skills and Supported Employment Programme. “Clothes are just the vehicle to do other things.” — Tammy Greyling And it doesn’t stop there. There is so much more to this company than we can cover here. But what you need to know is where the motivation comes from. Jesse and Tammy are both passionate about people. Their ultimate goal is to bring out the light in the people they serve, to provide a way for people to find their purpose, their passion and the hope that tomorrow will be better than today. An innate love for people and the planet oozes out of them, and they have created a way to turn that love into a sustainable, life-changing organisation. < Previous Item Next Item >

15 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Hlobisile Bathabile Yende Paving the way for women who farm Hlobisile Bathabile Yende on her farm in Gauteng Farming has always been for people who don’t look like Hlobisile, but she has decided to change the stereotype and bring a whole new cohort of young, black women with her on the journey. Not content with running a successful farm, a degree in criminology and psychology, and a newly written children's book in publication, Hlobisile has opened up her life and home to help other women farmers realise their dreams. In the third year of studying farming, every student has to do practical training on a working farm. The problem is that there are very few farms that want to open themselves up to training students and even fewer that are willing to take on women students. The perceived risks are too high and the benefits too low. Hlobisile sees this and, since 2014, she has taken on two full-time students a year, with no financing from the government, to train them in every aspect of farm life, right up to the high-end management of the farm. And, in order to create a safe space for them, she lets them live on the farm, as part of the family. “I wanted them to do it with ease because it is a passion of mine. They couldn’t afford daily transport and being on the farm full time made it easier and safer. This is us paying it forward” Of course, it is a reciprocal relationship, she gets another two workers on the farm, but she pays them as proper workers whilst also training them. She also knows that she is learning from them. She provides practical experience and they pass on the latest advances in the technical information that they are learning at university. “We try to be human and be kind to them, when you involve and value them they will also look after you.“ The most important thing for Hlobisile is that she is setting up these young women for success. She takes them along to networking events and introduces them to people who could further their careers. She is giving them a foot in the door and onto the first rung of a ladder that, as women in farming, and black women at that, they have historically found it very hard to access. Hlobisile comes from a family of farmers, she was raised on a farm by her father who was raised on a farm by his father. She is intensely passionate about it, something that she clearly gets from her dad who taught her respect, discipline and the craft of farming. And now she wants to pass it on to future generations through her book “Lethu The Farmer” written about her four-year-old son’s experience learning about farming, and the excitement and responsibility of growing his own food. At 28 years old and 1.6 metres tall, with long red nails, Hlobisile is not your average farmer. In a profession often seen as poorly paid dirty work, she stands as an example that managing a successful farm can be a career for a young black woman. Not content with that, she is now studying for her master's in criminology with the dream of one day being known as ‘Dr Farmer’. < Previous Item Next Item >

49 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Mbongeni Manzini Transforming dumpsites into gardens Mbongeni Manzini at home in his garden, Gauteng Mbongeni grew up in Meadowlands, Soweto. His family had been forcibly removed from their home in Sophiatown and left on the streets of Soweto. There were no shops, no businesses and no electricity. There was no public transport so people were forced to walk the 21 km to Johannesburg for work. Out of this injustice, a community grew and leaned on each other for support. People organised themselves and soon a functioning suburb was established. It is this memory of community that drives Mbongeni in his actionism. As a child, if anyone needed food and there was nothing at home, they would be fed by someone in the community. If they needed shoes, a neighbour would donate a pair they didn’t need anymore. The community worked as a collective, and he feels responsible for preserving and passing on those values to future generations. His feelings of responsibility for playing his part in the community run so deep that he has taken it upon himself to clean up dumping sites and transform them into gardens, growing vegetables to use as part of his ongoing feeding scheme. From his family home, children from the surrounding areas come and learn about art, nature, and planting food. He sometimes takes them on horseriding and museum trips. The objective is to provide them with an education they cannot receive in school, expanding their experiences and encouraging them to engage more with the world outside their homes. Mbongeni engages with parents, explaining why their children can benefit from his informal program. Often 50 to 60 kids will show up when he has advertised a workshop. On other days they might pop in just for help with their homework. This is Mgongeni’s vision for the world, to create a way of living where doors are always open to help and guide others in the community, just like when he was growing up. Mbongeni has big plans to expand his educational operations and feeding scheme but to do so he needs help. Donations of computers are welcome as well as materials for crocheting and sewing. On a larger scale, he is looking for four 6-metre containers to expand his feeding scheme. < Previous Item Next Item >

43 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Diana Musara Upcycling plastic for sustainable schools Diana Musara in the classroom made of eco-bricks, Diepsloot There are three things that Diana Musara is passionate about; entrepreneurship, education and the environment. All of these passions now intersect through her NPO, Earthly Touch Foundation, but they started with a school made out of bottles. Whilst volunteering as a director for Khensani’s collection, an after-school program in Diepsloot that supports struggling students with extra lessons, Diana took it upon herself to build a new classroom for the growing number of learners, with over 70 in one room. At a women's network event hosted by Hirshes, Diana was introduced to the concept of eco-bricks. She realised that this simple idea would provide her with a cost-effective building material which also had environmental benefits. Eco-bricks are 2-litre soft drink bottles packed tightly with plastic, a well-insulated alternative to regular bricks. They also provide an upcycling solution for single-use plastics. The school receives large donations of clothes, so Diana put her business background to work and created an exchange program whereby people from the surrounding community could make eco-bricks from plastic they had collected and exchange the bottles for clothes. Diepsloot has a plastic problem. Discarded litter is strewn everywhere, clogging the water systems and piled on the side of the roads. By offering clothes in exchange for plastic trash, Diana was helping to clean up the neighbourhood whilst also providing an opportunity to anyone who wanted to get involved. So far they have received around 5,000 eco-bricks through the exchange program. “I want to do something that can add value and change people’s lives.” The school made out of bottles provides an environmentally friendly structure that is well-insulated and an innovative solution for plastic waste that is not being collected by the municipality. The labour brings much-needed work to an area that is struggling for jobs, and the building provides a valuable after-school facility for kids in the area. With the threat of global warming and carbon emission, the new eco-brick school will contribute to the avoidance of +- 50 tons of carbon into our environment as a result of repurposed plastic bottles, the use of solar, and limiting the use of cement for construction. That’s quite a lot of value through one relatively simple idea. Through the Earthly Touch Foundation, Diana wants to take the idea even further by mentoring construction students in eco-brick building and training them in how to run a business. Find out more at https://www.earthlytouchfoundation.com < 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 >

27 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Tamzyn Botha Turning trash into treasure to save the planet Tamzyn Botha at Shade in Brixton, Johannesburg Actionism isn’t always about giant projects or making a big noise. Sometimes, simply the way that you position yourself in the world qualifies as a profound form of Actionism, leading by example and creating work practices that encourage positive change within the community around you. Tamzyn Botha runs Shade, an art studio in the small suburb of Brixton, Johannesburg. It is a space for teaching, artist residencies and for her to create commissioned work. Through this space, she also runs a materials library, a space where artists can come and buy found objects to use in their own work. “There is an abundance of materials. In my own work, I use found objects and trash. Some of it is from stuff that I have been collecting from dumps for a couple of years.” The objects for the materials library are sourced in collaboration with local reclaimers, or waste pickers, who sort through trash and recycling on the streets around Brixton. Tamzyn gives them an idea of the kind of items that would be useful to her and then buys what she needs directly from the reclaimers. She then archives and indexes them for the library. “I see myself as a facilitator, connecting the dots between people and opportunities.” Although Tamzyn describes herself as a “glorified hoarder”, and not as an activist, her work is clearly grounded in community upliftment, sustainable living, and environmental responsibility. Through her various projects, the messages of waste and abundance come through loud and clear. Through her actions, we get a real-world example of how we could all live and work with a little more consideration for the community around us. Tamzyn is now excited to be passing these values on to a whole new generation through an art programme that she runs for kids in the local area. Through Shade, Tamzyn also curates the Brixton Light Festival, a community parade that celebrates the diversity of the small suburb. The initiative began with a whole series of events that utilise community engagement methods that were then used as building blocks to curate a festival that is underpinned by inclusivity and that is representative of the community. With over 150 volunteers and 250 artists and performers at the festival itself, the event has mushroomed in size and significance. This year’s theme is “The Watershed - where the waters meet the light”, celebrating and raising awareness of the water system that runs through the whole of Africa and straight through Brixton itself. The festival will include many events and initiatives including a mapping project of the history and geology of Brixton, including the watershed itself and a guerilla blue plaque project, celebrating the unsung heroes of the suburb. The festival starts with a parade from the Brixton market at 4 pm on the 2nd of September. < Previous Item Next Item >

11 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Otsile Nkadimeng Mobilising youth around climate change Otsile Nkadimeng at Northcliff, Johannesburg The urgency with which Otsile Nkadimeng talks about global warming echoes his fears about the impending climate crisis. He needs to get his message out before it is too late but the problem is that most of the solutions that he offers are grounded in the knowledge that policy change takes time, way too much time. Otsile believes in the South African youth. He knows that they have the capacity to care about their future and about the future of their country. And he knows the importance of getting the youth involved. He is a clear example of how engaged, switched on and powerful the young people are in this country. They have the tools, the energy and they are starting to find their voice. His own journey into climate activism started five years ago when he heard a talk about climate change by Professor Coleen Vogel at a model United Nations conference for school students, hosted by Wits University. He was so affected by the powerful presentation that, after the event, he went straight home and joined Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion . In 2022 Otsile, together with his friend Pètra de Beer, started an initiative called the Sundial Movement , a collective of young people around the country who care about the climate and understand the impact that it will have on their own future. The movement connects high-school learners through instant messaging groups and appoints point people at different schools who are then responsible for mobilising other students to synchronise marches and protest action, all based around climate issues. “There is so much energy and potential in the youth. We need to be part of the process because this is our future.” They are also developing a climate training workshop called Talk in Twenty which teaches about the causes of the climate crisis whilst, at the same time, engaging with the real-world aspects of how it will affect everybody's lives. The aim is to reduce climate anxiety by walking people through all the issues and guiding them on how to take action. “We need to tie climate change to people's everyday issues, people are more concerned about what they are going to eat. We need to show people the impact on food, weather, and socioeconomic problems and how they are all interconnected. “ The solution, Otsile says, is the Just Energy Transition , a government initiative to move away from coal and towards cleaner sources of energy. But he is quick to point out that this is a slow process that is not accessible to most people. It is a high-level, policy-driven initiative that puts the power for change in the hands of the government. “Climate will never be a sexy issue, I have tried to make it that for a long time but it takes a lot of energy and a lot of effort.” As a bright young student, passionate about the future of the world, Otsile is in a good position to bridge the gap between the inaccessible government-level decisions and the growing masses of youth, on the ground, with the energy and determination to make a real change for the future. < Previous Item Next Item >