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 >

41 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Baba Biblos Lebona Preventing cable theft and blackouts Baba Biblos Lebona in front of the BCTT headquarters It took three cable thefts at the local Eskom substation and multiple days without electricity for Baba Biblos Lebona to decide that enough was enough. Taking the livelihoods of thousands of households into his own hands he decided to protect the substation himself, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a little help from his friends. This was back in September 2022. Eskom had told them that they did not have the money to keep on fixing the cables and so any subsequent blackouts from cable thefts could go on for weeks if not months. Baba created a WhatsApp group and invited others to join him in camping out next to the substation, taking it in shifts to guard the facility in small groups. Unarmed, they rely on their presence and their relationships with councillors and the local community to protect them. Ten months later and there are now 35 members of the Boitshepiville Commanders Task Team. Their name is a combination of the three townships that are served by the substation; Sharpville, Tshepiso and Boipatong. The team is a mix of men and women from around the different communities, all passionate about keeping the lights and heating on when there isn't load shedding. It is a completely voluntary role which they are doing to protect their families and their community. A converted kraal makes for temporary shelter so that they have a base looking onto the area that they are protecting, and they greet each other with their slogan, “Commanders Morning”, no matter what time of day it is. To help pay for their costs; transport, food and data they go door to door in the three communities asking for R20 donations and explaining what they are doing. Some people have helped, others have slammed the door in their faces. Even the local businesses, including a Shoprite supermarket, are not willing to help, even though they benefit from the protection that is being provided by Baba and his commanders. Still, they keep working, motivated by the belief that if they don’t do it, nobody else will. Boitshepiville Commanders Task Team will be celebrating their one-year anniversary in September and their hope is that they might be able to attract donors willing to help them with transport, food and a container to replace the temporary shelter that they have built. Baba Biblos Lebona was nominated as an Actionist by Tebogo Rapakgadi. < Previous Item Next Item >

3 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Keke Malakele Uplifting kids through robotics & coding Keke Malakele in Sandton, Johannesburg It’s a story that many people will recognise. Stuck inside the house during the COVID-19 lockdown, the whole family grappling to adapt to a new normal, and the kids being forced to embrace new ways of learning so that school can continue. Keke Malakele was no different. With three kids and limited resources, she was forced to find a way to keep them from falling behind. Noticing that other children in her block of flats did not have the support and equipment that they needed, she reached out. When regulations permitted, Keke invited small groups of children into her home to study online, supervising them in Maths and English. She took on a total of 20 children from her block, keeping them moving forward whilst the world stood still. It was this kind gesture that ignited a passion in Keke for bringing modern educational techniques to the most in-need members of society. Keke is a 35-year-old tech-savvy innovator who is fascinated by the intersection between technology and education. Although she has a full-time job as an IT support analyst at Baker McKenzie, a large law firm in Sandton, she spends the majority of her time outside work running her not-for-profit company “United Siyafunda” (United We Learn), teaching kids robotics and coding. “I am inspired by life itself. I believe that the beauty of life doesn’t depend on how happy you are, it depends on how happy others can be because of you.” It was during the pandemic that Keke realised that coding and robotics could provide valuable, marketable skills to the youth in a nation that has dramatically fallen behind in its quality of education to low-income areas. She dreamed of providing a way for South Africa to keep up with the rest of the world. “This is the time for South Africa. This is the time for us to bring innovative solutions to solve African problems. We have the youth but we need to upskill them because they are the solution.” The skills that can be learned through these courses are vital to staying relevant in a world that is developing so fast towards a technological future; creative development, engineering, computational thinking and problem-solving. But one of the biggest challenges is access to equipment. A robotics set can set you back upwards of R13 000. Because of access to equipment and teachers, it is often only the kids who go to the best schools that will learn these important new skills. Many others have the capacity for this new way of thinking, but few of them have the opportunity to find that they can do it. “The limitation for human beings is not knowing. The difference between those who have answers and those who don't is information. From that day, I wanted to share knowledge.” Keke devised a model to fund the venture that puts access to information for the poorest communities right at the centre. United Siyafunda delivers coding and robotics training to eight schools in total. Two of them are private schools and six of them are government schools. The private schools pay R200 per person. This fee covers the operational costs so that the public schools can get the services for free. The programme provides an innovative environment where kids are encouraged to come up with real-life solutions to societal problems using coding and robotics. Over a short time, they have achieved a great deal, notably 1st place in the UNISA African Innovation Expo in 2022. Today, United Siyafunda offers three different programmes; A teacher training programme to upskill teachers and help them adapt to the proposed coding and robotics curriculum. A kid's programme of coding and robotics clubs for five to 15-year-olds in various locations from Soweto to Thembisa. A youth programme that upskills young people to train and become coding and robotics coaches, deploying them in schools as coaches and facilitators. ”We want to become the key enablers in all of our communities, breaking the divide for those that don't have access. We want to be the solution in this country.” From its very beginning, United Siyafunda has focused on job creation at every level. Through her passion and vision for a technology-rich future, it is clear that Keke Malakele sees a bright future for all South Africans. < Previous Item Next Item >

36 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Christinah Mdau Defending rights against mining threats Christinah Mdau with Mariah Moleme , Pintli Molalasi ,Ditlallo Lehula , Lerato Koloi ,Martha Koloi and Peter Selloe As we sit in the “community centre”; a rudimentary tin-roofed, open-sided structure, Christinah tells me that the local mine won’t be blasting today because they know that I am there and that for the time being, I am safe. However, If I had arrived two months prior it would have been too dangerous, I could have been intimidated, beaten or escorted away by the supporters of the mine. Even so, a police vehicle circles us, looking at me as we speak, and a large group of men stand close by but don’t engage. It has been 13 years since at least 850 homes in Mmaditlhokwa Village in Marikana were relocated so that Tharisa Minerals mining company could exploit the land underneath them. Individuals and families were promised permanent housing, water, electricity and sewerage, but to this day they are still in the shacks built for them as temporary housing back in 2010. The mine is yet again encroaching on their homes and the blasting that happens almost daily provides a shower of rocks and dust, accompanied by a piercingly loud siren warning them to get inside, or better still move under the “community centre” for protection. The school is now under threat as the area that is being mined has moved closer to its walls. This is no way for anyone to live. There are people in the community who support the mine, they hope that the opportunities will out way the risk. Although they were promised jobs, a few short 2 to 3-month contract jobs are all that have materialised. There is strength in numbers, and so Christinah and a local group of concerned residents got together to form an organisation that they have called DEHRVA (Defenders for Environment and Human Rights Violations in Africa). Its sole purpose is to deal with the immediate threat to their livelihoods. DEHRVA believes that the human rights of the community have been violated by the mine and the National Government. Through their various programs, guided by section 24 of the South African Constitution, they hope to remedy the situation by involving those who they consider to be responsible for redressing the impacts that the community has faced. This includes both government and private entities. What they want are the promises to be kept that were made to them all those years ago. They want a safe life for themselves and their families, away from the air and noise pollution of the mine, away from the rocks falling on the roofs of their houses, and away from the daily intimidation and imposition of blasting. But it is more complicated than that. The longer they live in one area, the more connected they are to the land, and the more family members have been buried and rituals have been established. They are not asking for the world, just their basic constitutional rights. As I sit under the shelter, surrounded by these seven determined Actionists, I can see that they are not scared, that they will not be intimidated. As I sit with them I am not scared either. But when I leave on my own, I hurry to get home. < Previous Item Next Item >

40 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Candice Chirwa Championing period positivity Candice Chirwa in Delta Park, Johannesburg The self-styled “Minister of Menstruation” knows what it’s like to feel shame about being on her period. From the age of 10, it was a secret that was never discussed at her school, and that all the girls went to great lengths to conceal. “I really did feel like I was going to die. It was as if my childhood had come to an end and I had to mature quickly and hide this thing from everyone for 11 years. Nobody was talking about it.” When she left school Candice knew that she wanted to do something to help others and address issues of gender inequality. She had a background in dramatic arts, debating and public speaking, and the passion to challenge the tired norms that she experienced on a daily basis. “We have to call a period a period. We have to call a vagina a vagina. If you are offended by that then you are offended by biology!” In 2018 Candice founded QRATE, an NPO that gives workshops at schools and workplaces around the country. Their aim is to create a safe, period-positive society that does not regard menstruation as shameful but openly embraces it as a normal part of life. Their workshops are designed to facilitate workplaces, schools and homes in developing more accepting practices which provide support, information and resources in an empowering and affirming way. Through a process that they call ‘Eduliftment’, Candice aims to enhance the critical thinking skills of young people to help them navigate the more difficult parts of growing up. At QRATE they do this through service, education and advocacy. As well as running her NPO, Candice hosts the podcasts “What The Relationship” and “Patriarchy Popcast”. She has also co-authored two books, the latest of which is titled “Flow - The Book About Menstruation”. In 2020 Candice became the Minister of Menstruation and from her position as a social media thought leader she has created a platform to speak openly about periods, advocate for legislative change and to inspire everyone to be period-positive. Given that at least 50% of the population are people who menstruate, that cannot be a bad thing. < Previous Item Next Item >

50 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Thato Mphuthi Challenging disability stigma through education Thato Mphuthi at home in Soweto, Gauteng So much Actionism is driven by personal experience and the need to make sure that nobody else suffers in the same way. No more so than for Thato Mphuthi, a powerful voice for the rights of people with disabilities. At 8 years old Thato was diagnosed with TB of the right hip. She had to rely on crutches to get around and took a long time to adjust to her new way of moving. Not only was she in pain and drastically restricted in her movement, but she also became alienated from her friends and fearful of being picked on. For a year her classroom was on the first floor and, only being able to cope with navigating the stairs once a day, she had to stay upstairs for the whole day, unable to join in at break time or enjoy lunch with her friends. In high school, the bullying got worse and she became more introverted. She wrote a poem called “Imizwayami” (My Feelings) for an assignment and performed it in front of her class. It was a raw expression of her experiences as a person with a disability. The performance prompted a change in attitude from many of her fellow students and lit a fire in Thato, proving that she had the ability to change people’s perceptions of her. After leaving school Thato slowly started to engage with activists. She was introduced to the One In Nine Campaign, working with survivors of GBV and the Young Urban Woman Movement and Activate. I am so grateful for the experience that came with having this condition because it changed my outlook on life and opened me up to different things ... I often say to my friends that this feels like a hug to my 8-year-old self who could not speak for themselves at the time. The work that I am doing, as much as I am passionate about it, is also my way of healing. In 2020 Thato started her own NPO, Enabled Enlightenment, as a way to educate children about issues relating to disability, encouraging them to live as good examples to others in their communities. Once she started to run workshops in schools, the program was broadened to include issues of consent, body autonomy, GBV, and sexual and reproductive health. Thato is wearing the Disability Pride T-Shirt designed by tebo x emeka which can be bought through the link in our online store. < Previous Item Next Item >

47 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Tshepiso Makoni Using t-shirts to tackle stereotypes Tshepiso Makoni at home in Soweto, Gauteng Art changes the people who engage with it, sometimes in the most subtle ways. Artists find inspiration and meaning in different places, the motivational drive to create is fed by the feeling of making something with purpose. Purpose, to Tshepiso, comes in starting conversations that change the way her community sees themselves, and each other. As one half of the artistic duo Tebo X Emeka, Tshepiso creates T-shirts that fuse photography and graphic design to gently push tired old narratives in a new direction. For their first project, Taxiology, they focused on the taxi industry around Soweto. They wanted to celebrate the industry for its unique position in South African culture, accepting the perceived view of taxis as inconvenient, noisy and dangerous whilst also celebrating the positive interactions that they facilitate. You can’t find the culture that we have here anywhere else. When you get inside a taxi you have to greet everyone, you combine your money with the other passengers and send it to the front. You tell jokes, you discuss the news. Tebo X Emeka wants to help people see themselves for who they are and who they could be by providing representation of township culture in fashion, using the T-Shirt as an accessible, portable gallery for purpose-driven artwork. More recently Tshepiso has designed and created the disability pride t-shirt, again looking to change the conversation around a subject that has been stigmatised and stereotyped. T-Shirts are a way to begin a conversation, for us to be able to represent people with disabilities. It allows for their voices to be heard and for them to be seen. Her hope is that the t-shirts will start a conversation and become a driving force for action. They want to partner with the government to use disability pride shirts as a starting point to create a new language around disability, public consciousness and acceptance. By creating work that has meaning, and the intention to drive conversation, Tshepiso is planting the seeds of change in her community. To change the way that people view their community and therefore themselves is no small idea. < Previous Item Next Item >

44 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Luyanda Mazwi Developing an eco-fridge for street vendors Luyanda Mazwi (left) with Gladys, a street vendor in Brixton, Johannesburg In a small church in the Johannesburg suburb of Brixton, a rowdy crowd is singing along to Doo-Be-Doo by Freshly Ground, which is being performed by a small, enthusiastic choir. It is the last performance of a night of music and poetry that has been organised by Luyanda Mazwi, an astrophysics master's student from the University of Johannesburg. He has planned and funded the whole night for one purpose, to ask if anyone has a 3D printer that he can borrow. Whilst still an undergraduate student, Luyanda and a friend decided to build a community farm in a village in Limpopo. They wanted to provide an alternative to the lack of food security in the area, to see if they could encourage the community to get involved. They didn’t think about it too hard, they just went and did it, and they made lots of mistakes. But it started a journey for Luyanda that centred around using his time, energy and education to help others. Over the years, the idea of creating a small community farm has grown into a dream to overhaul the supply chain of fresh food, from organic community gardens to street vendors. As a first step, Luyanda has designed a portable, electricity-free cooling system, made out of recycled plastic, that could provide street vendors with a cheap and efficient way to keep their fruit and vegetables from spoiling if they do not sell them all in one day. It is a simple, water-cooled system, that could be developed and constructed at a minimal cost using materials that are readily available and already being collected by waste pickers around the city. His prototypes are promising, but the precision needed for the cooling system makes it difficult to produce by hand, hence the 3D printer. Using down-cycled plastic bottles, Luyanda wants to 3D print the prototype and develop it into a product that can be easily reproduced. Together with small community gardens, the “fridge” could allow for a more productive supply chain that includes many other members of the community. The intention is not to make money, he wants to develop the product and then release the IP so that anyone can build could build and sell the fridges. This is a big idea that could change the lives of street vendors and could be the starting point for job creation and a more inclusive supply chain. But for now, Luyanda just needs a 3D printer. If you can help Luyanda to get access to a 3D printer which can print over 260 degrees Celsius and is not PTFE lined please let us know in the comments or get in touch. < Previous Item Next Item >

51 The Actionists About Partner With Us Contact Us FAQ ____________________ Thom Pierce Studios Menu Close Faeeza Lok Engaging communities for lasting change Faeeza Lok in Fourways, Gauteng Actionism often starts with one person and the unique story that drives an unrelenting desire to see a change in the world around them. Faeeza Lok was born in South Africa but grew up in Hong Kong. As a mixed-race kid in a country that exhibited very little diversity, she was left feeling like she didn’t belong. When she moved back to South Africa at the age of 15 she found her home, the place where it all made sense. A country where everyone is struggling to belong in a vibrant melting pot of complex identities. “It’s my identity that birthed my activism.” At the age of 25 Faeeza decided to start the Voice of The People Movement. The idea was to solve local problems through design thinking, a human-centred process by which innovative solutions are found by consulting with the affected people to understand their needs, feelings and behaviours. Working in the township of Thembisa, Faeeza went to schools, parks and out onto the streets to find volunteers interested in joining her on the journey, training them up with the skills needed to be part of the movement. These included workshops on practising empathy, resilient mindsets and unlearning unconscious bias. They then embarked on a week-long door-to-door campaign, engaging the community in order to really understand their needs. From this research, they put together an ongoing series of outreach activities focusing on cleanups, skills training and community upliftment around Thembisa. Voice of the People paved the way for her next bold move. Faeeza is now the volunteer coordinator for RISE Mzansi, South Africa’s newest political party, where she is taking her ideas of empowerment and change to a whole new level. Activism often starts with one person but there comes a point when they need to find a team of like-minded people with whom they can walk patiently forward, laying the groundwork for sustained change. Faeeza Lok may have started alone but now she’s found her people and she’s ready for change. < Previous Item Next Item >

UNITED DOMESTIC WORKERS OF SOUTH AFRICA Advocating for the labour rights and dignified treatment of domestic workers. Read More Contact Us The United Domestic Workers of South Africa was founded by Pinky Mashiane, a domestic worker who recognised the need to combat low pay, long hours, GBV, harassment and other hazards of an unregulated work life. Our aim is to support domestic workers to get justice for inhumane treatment, to educate them in a full understanding of their rights and to advocate for labour laws that support domestic workers. Domestic work is often seen as informal work, even though the hours are usually well over a regular full time role. The conditions of work usually go unregulated and the mostly black female workforce are easily exploited. As a domestic worker you are protected under the Labour Relations Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. We assist with cases of... Inhumane treatment Physical abuse, verbal abuse and sexual harassment Exploitation Underpaying, overworking, minimum wage and withholding pay Accidental harm Dog attacks, accidents and injuries whilst working. Wrongful termination Dismissal due to HIV status, health issues, wrongful accusations of theft. Joanna Mkhoza In 2019 Joanna Mkhonza was savagely beaten by the 28 year-old son of the couple for whom she had worked for 22 years. After a night of heavy drinking Enrico took out his frustrations at the South African government on the woman who had helped to raise him since he was five years old. Joanna managed to escape with heavy bruising to her face but was forced into retirement by the incident. A criminal charge has been lodged against the family but still has not been heard in the court. In the CCMA the family was ordered to pay Joanna R48,000 (£2,500 approx.) for loss of earnings. Sarah Makuwa Sarah was working for a family in Pretoria in 2012 when she was blinded in one eye by an open bottle of drain cleaner that fell from the top shelf. Her employer had asked her to move all of the cleaning products to a lower shelf. Instead of taking her straight to hospital, Sarah was made to wait until the husband got home and was driven to hospital two hours after the accident took place. She stayed in hospital for 3 months, but when the family was asked to pay for medication they refused, saying that they didn’t have any money. On returning to work she found that the electricity had been cut off to her living quarters, and the toilet had been blocked. After three months she was forced to leave and told that they could no longer employ her. 10 years later and Sarah still hasn’t received any compensation, but she is working with Pinky to get justice for her injury. Rebecca Kutumela After 3 years of diligent work as a domestic worker and nanny, Rebecca Kutumela was dismissed from her job with no warning because she took three days off, sick with flu. Rebecca was paid a salary of R4,000 a month to be a live-in domestic worker. The understanding was that she would work 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, but the reality was very different. Often she would have to get up early to look after the baby and at 4pm she was expected to feed and bath the child, often she would only finish at 8pm once she had served dinner and washed up the dishes. As she was live-in, Rebecca was often expected to babysit when her employers wanted an evening out, there was no offer of payment. Since September 2023 Rebecca has been unable to find work. She is now 60 years old and a mother to 2 daughters, grandmother to 4. She has been left feeling dehumanised and discarded by a family who did not care about her life but only what they could get from her for as little as possible. IMPACT More than 200 domestic workers have been assisted since the formation of UDWOSA. UDWOSA currently has over 700 members nationally. According to Statistics South Africa’s most recent quarterly labour force survey, the country has almost one million domestic workers. Contact Us CALL / WHATSAPP Pinky Mashiane: +27 73 291 2244 / +27 79 474 3321 Emmah Tshabangu: +27 76 439 9293 Rebecca Kutumela: +27 82 315 4248 EMAIL udwosa.2018@gmail.com Join our Facebook group In The Media Video: Newzroom Afrika Houses for Domestic Workers Video: SABC Fighting for the Rights of Domestic Workers Video: The Forge Challenging Injustice Through Law Article: Daily Maverick The Actionists - Profile Article: Mail & Guardian Domestic Workers Will Rise Up Article: LRS Meet The Union Leader Pinky Mashiane Pinky Mashiane is the founder of UDWOSA and works tirelessly for the rights of domestic workers around the country. On a regular workday, her phone will not stop ringing with requests for help from people who don’t know where else to turn. She started her professional life as a domestic worker but soon realised she could not tolerate the conditions and treatment that were considered normal. She became one of the most prominent voices for the rights of domestic workers around the country. One of Pinky’s greatest achievements has been to get domestic workers included in Coida (the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act). This came about through her work on the landmark case of Maria Mahlangu, a domestic worker who fell into a swimming pool and drowned. CREATED FOR positive activism © 2025 UDWOSA Home About Impact Media Contact Close