Download PDF Noxolo Susan Mboniswa
Noxolo Susan Mboniswa (51) is an activist from Tsholomnqa, also known as Chalumna, East London. She has been the secretary of Sovereign Agroecology & Food Empowerment (SAFE) since 2019. “I became an activist after seeing the struggles and suffering of our people on the ground.”
We fight for the right to land reform for food sovereignty and we aim to empower communities through education and advocacy. Through local initiatives, we build resilience, promote sustainability, and amplify marginalised voices. SAFE started from a history of grassroots activism and community organisations to tackle social and environmental injustices in South Africa’s food systems. SAFE began in the late 2000s when small-scale farmers, farm workers, farm dwellers, and urban and rural communities in the Northern and Western Cape Provinces started mobilising around land reform and food sovereignty.
She has tirelessly worked on initiatives that has empowered poor communities by addressing the social and environmental injustices within the South African food systems. Mboniswa continues to help her community in accessing nutritious food and sustainable farming practices.
Evodia Setlhare
Evodia Setlhare is a 30-year-old activist from Potchefstroom in Northwest. She was Born in Itsoseng Ditsobotla District, Northwest and later completed her Matric at Batoka Technical School in 2012.
In 2022 together with her colleagues, they established an NPO called Are Aganeng Barulaganyi, with the main purpose of empowering, protecting and educating women and children. Setlhare stays in a community that is filled with drugs, high numbers of GBV and child neglect. Her dream is to see children in her village finishing school and fulfilling their dreams and to see women empowered and develop through skills workshops and community gardening.
Setlhare spends most of her time educating children and out of school youths about dangers of peer pressure and substance abuse as well as helping women and survivors of GBV get back their independence.
Thandi Mkhatshwa
Thandi Mkhatswa is a passionate and hardworking social activist from Thokoza, East of Johannesburg. She is very committed to her community and actively speaks out about the social issues they face.
Thandi is the Education Coordinator at Habitat-61 Creative Hub in Thokoza, Ekurhuleni. She helps children with reading and writing. Mkhatshwa is passionate about equality and women’s liberation. She has a Business Administration Certificate and is currently studying for an Administrative Management Degree at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Thandi cares deeply about equality and fighting against women’s oppression.
Thandi is interested in promoting education, equality, and addressing women’s oppression. She is also passionate about literature and helping children improve their reading and writing skills.
In her spare time, Mkhatshwa is a theatre enthusiast who enjoys portraying stories that depicts real social issues in working class communities. She has participated in a play about the rarely discussed water crisis currently gripping Joburg, together with other activists while picketing at the Constitutional Court in 2023.
This article was submitted as part of the Imbila Yesu publication produced daily for the duration of the Winter School in 2024 (14-20 July 2024). It appeared in Edition 1, released on 15 July 2024. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the author and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
