Download PDFZanele Chabalala
Zanele Chabalala is a very passionate activist from the Sisonke Revolutionary Movement in Orange Farm. She is the coordinator of the women’s forum that helps communities near and far alike with many of their discrepancies and basic needs like dustbins, water, electricity and many more.
They are reaching a lot of people by means of door-to-door activations that the organisation usually hosts. They are not only focused on the senior citizens but the youth as well and benefit a lot from some of the workshops that their organisation has been having, teaching the principles of freedom, equality and solidarity.
Chabalala is a very proud member of S.R.M., having the organisation survive so many years without any form of founding. Chabalala would like to one day see the working class getting what is due to them.
Dineo Motaung
Dineo Motaung is a 36-year-old woman born in Ladybrand, Free State and grew up in Botshabelo Free State. Dineo is part of the People’s Health Movement (PHM), the reason why Dineo became an activist is that after discovering her HIV status and realising how people living with HIV are stigmatised by the community and facilities of work, she then joined the People Living with HIV sector (PLHIV) advocating for the rights of PLHIV and health-related issues as a whole for availability, accessibility and accountability of quality health care services.
Jo-Anne Johannes
Jo-anne Johannes (55) was born and raised in Paarl. She has 3 siblings and was raised by her mother. After both her parents passed away, she went to live with her aunt who groomed her to be the woman that she is today. She had a hard time when she was living with her aunt who was very strict. She wanted to become a social worker but due to financial issues she could not go study but that did not demotivate her. She then went to search for work where she then got to work in a retail factory in Cape Town. She then had to go look for another job because she did not have a place to live. She then worked at a farm in Paarl where she then became a manager at Due Cape Farm. She had to resign from the farm because she had no one to look after her children.
She joined Women on Farms and that’s where she became an activist. She then got to attend training and travel a lot as an organisation. She became a strong activist in 2020 when the farm evictions increased then she and the community members organised a march.
They face a lot of challenges with labour issues, housing and farm evictions.
She got to join the organisation as they were recruiting members in 2012 as she wanted to speak for people’s rights. She also helps the elderly in clinics. She is proud of the change she has made in the community and loves helping people in her community. Her message to other activists would be that they try to reach out to a lot of people and keep pushing to bring social change.
Justice Mphethi
Justice Mphethi (24) lives in Burgersfort at Ga Kgoete village, Limpopo. He went to Makapi Secondary School. “I grew up in a poor family,” said
Justice, His home background affected him socially and academically. “I used to play chess, scrabble and soccer not only because I was good but because it kept me going and it was a good distraction.” said Mphethi.
He was bullied as a child because of his poor background. When He was doing Grade 8, he lost a close friend to suicide, his friend was also a victim of bullying.
In 2018, Justice joined an organisation called Sekhukhune Environment Justice Network (SEJN) through his brother who is a founder, Mphethi is now one of the board members. He also works with Benchmarks.
These profiles were submitted as part of the Imbila Yesu publication produced daily for the duration of the Winter School in 2023 (23-28 July 2023). It appeared in Edition No.4, released on 28 July 2023.
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