CHANGEMAKERS

& CRUSADERS
They are the trailblazers whose inuence rapidly spreads beyond their world.
The profound awareness they raise through their achievements makes them
pioneers, prophets, champions of the people and the planet. Their pivotal
milestones have made history, and in so doing, prove their ability to lead.
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A testament to his growing
renown, Khalo Matabane
managed to secure some
major interviews for his
documentary, Nelson
Mandela: The Myth and
Me such global icons
as the Dalai Lama, Colin
Powell, Henry Kissinger,
Wole Soyinka. It won
a Special Jury Award at
Amsterdams International
Documentary Film Festival
in late November 2013;
days later, Mandela passed
away, lending a poignant
note to the directors
lmic reections on the
man. This year the lm
has been seen in New
York, London, Brazil and
the Sydney International
Film Festival in June,
where Matabane was
on the jury. Since 1996,
Matabanes been exploring
SAs sociopolitical
landscape touching on
subjects such as exile,
Aids, refugees and how
the past haunts the
present. The one that got
him known as a lmmaker
to watch was the
self-nanced, experimental
Conversations on a Sunday
Afternoon (2005), which
won a prize in Berlin and,
along with his other
works, has been screened
at festivals around the
world as well as by the
BBC, Denmarks TV2 and
the US Sundance Channel.
Matabane is now working
on a feature lm based on
Jonny Steinbergs book
The Number (about prison
gangs). His unique outlook
will ensure that he keeps
showing the world what
it needs to see and hear.
OLIVE
SHISANA
PEOPLES
POWERHOUSE
When Dr Olive Shisana
achieves something,
it affects the lives of
hundreds of thousands
of people. Under her
direction, policies have
been implemented that
changed the health sector,
and people who dont know
her name reap the rewards
of her decisions. With over
30 years of experience
including being part of
special projects for Unesco,
the UN, EU and WHO
and as the rst black female
president and CEO of the
HSRC (Human Sciences
Research Council),
Dr Shisanas place in the
history books is assured.
But shes not resting on her
laurels; she wants to bring
about even more positive
change in Africa. She
promotes excellence and
relevance of research in the
social sciences, serving on
various boards, councils
and ministerial advisory
groups, including that of
the Minister of Economic
Development (since 2010)
and the BRICS Think
Tank. In 2016, shell be
co-chairing the 21st
International Aids
Conference in Durban.
At the end of last year,
Dr Shisana received
a Science for Society gold
medal, and spoke at the
Gender Summit in
Washington, further
putting South Africa on the
map as a place where real
game-changers hail from.
Read last years prole
on citypress.co.za
When Zackie Achmat was 14, he set re to his school. It was during the Soweto Uprising and it was an act of civil
disobedience, a deant protest against apartheid. His rebellion saw him imprisoned ve times. In the 90s he founded
the National Coalition for Gay & Lesbian Equality and sued the government. The outcome? The decriminalisation
of gay sex and many equal rights for same-sex partners. He was open about his HIV-positive status and in 1998
co-founded the Treatment Action Campaign that fought to make antiretrovirals cheaply available in SA. It was a goal
for which he was prepared to die (Mandela visited him at his home and begged him to take the medication) and also
made him a global gure. Achmat is the poster boy for active citizenry hes not just an advocate of it, hes the best
example of it. Outspoken, unafraid, resilient and resourceful, Achmat gets a ground level view of complex issues and
is able to convert ideas into action. He takes up the cudgels against things that impede good goals most recently,
testifying at the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into policing as director of Ndifuna Ukwazi, a social justice
organisation. Determined to make positive change, Achmat has always dened his role rather than be dened by it.
Read last years prole on citypress.co.za
KHALO MATABANE
DOCUMENTING REALITY
ZACKIE ACHMAT LEADING BY EXAMPLE
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LEWIS PUGH
SWIMMING FOR OUR LIVES
Hes just become the rst person to swim the Seven Seas,
completing all of them one after the other in August. Its
the rst leg of a three-year expedition to campaign for
more Marine Protected Areas that will include swims in
the most endangered parts of the ocean, such as the Great
Barrier Reef, Galapagos, the West Indies and Antarctica.
Lewis Pugh, last year named UN Patron of the Oceans,
already has several extraordinary swims under his belt (the
coldest: minus 1.7C), many of them world rsts (a dozen
records, and counting). What is truly great, however, is his
choice of places to swim. These are not ego trips; he does
not swim merely because he can or because its there. His
impossible feats have always been about climate change
and our impact on the oceans. He swam in Antarctica and
the Arctic to highlight melting ice caps (One shouldnt be
able to swim at the North Pole in the rst place). He swam
the breadth of the Maldives to raise the alarm on rising sea
levels; he crossed a lake on Mount Everest to warn of
melting glaciers (There should have been no lake to swim
in). He has taken his message to world leaders, ordinary
people and multinational corporations. Its clear there is no
depth he wont dive into to save our precious Blue Planet.
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If you want to reach the
world, the best way to do
it is through people and
technology. Marlon Parker
gured this out earlier
than most when he
established RLabs
(Reconstructed Living
Lab) in 2009 a movement
that uses mobile and social
media technology to
transfer skills, provide
counselling and help solve
community problems.
Mobile technology is cheap
and ubiquitous and reaches
a huge audience quickly.
RLabs allowed people to
tell their stories using their
phones, and was an instant
hit. It now operates in 21
countries, providing access
to job opportunities,
counselling and support
for victims of abuse. The
latest RLabs project is
creating innovative
community spaces or
Hope Economies this
year Parker opened four
Youth Cafs to connect
young people with skills
training and business
opportunities, and
launched a digital currency
called Zlato that rewards
young people for doing
good. Hes an honorary
faculty member of the
International School of
Digital Transformation, an
Ashoka Fellow (a global
group of leading social
innovators) and alumni of
Obamas Young African
Leaders initiative, and as a
WEF Young Global Leader
for 2014 has just attended
its summit in Beijing. Hope
is a word he uses a lot
after all, it took him from
the Cape Flats to the world.
Read last years prole on
citypress.co.za
THULANI MADONDO
CHILDRENS CHAMPION
As one of 10 CNN Heroes of 2012, Thulani Madondo received a $50 000 prize; six
months later, he had used it to build a computer lab at the Kliptown Youth Program
(KYP), offering free basic computer skills to anyone in the community. Madondos
phenomenal fund-raising abilities (further boosted by his recent attendance of a
programme for NPO managers at Harvard Business School) have kicked into a higher
gear with his win, and hes been able to inspire even more people around the world to
help out. His Gumboots Dance team of fund-raisers has toured China and Germany this
year, and a donation of articial turf last year meant the KYP centre can now host sports
days on its own eld a simple gesture, but one that means everything to the children
who hang out there. For Madondo, its all about the details. He started KYP to provide
tutoring to local, underprivileged kids, but its expanded into meeting many needs
meals, uniforms, library books, holiday-job placements for students, bursaries, funding
for tertiary education (KYP has sent 29 matriculants to study further, and 12 were
recently enrolled in the Columbia Leadership Academy in the US). In seven years,
Madondos turned a lost generation into all-rounders with a bright future.
Read last years prole on citypress.co.za
MARLON PARKER
THE PHONE RANGER
LUCAS SITHOLE & KGOTHATSO MONTJANE
INTERNATIONAL TENNIS HOT SHOTS
Between them, wheelchair tennis players Lucas Sithole and Kgothatso Monjane are
doing a spectacular job of giving SA good sporting publicity. When they take to the
courts, they often win. And they make history. In January 2013 Montjane (who was born
with a congenital deformity of both hands and a foot) was the rst African player ever
to take part in a grand slam event the Australian Open, where she reached the quarter
nals. Then Sithole became the rst African to win a US Open grand slam singles title in
September, this after winning the quads singles title at the British Open in July.
Currently ranked world No.3, Sithole has had a blazing start to 2014 the triple amputee
(he lost both legs and an arm after falling under a train) won both the singles and
doubles titles at the Sydney Super Series and Melbourne Open, reached the nals at the
Australian Open, and won the Japan Open. Montjane is currently ranked No.8 in the
world, and has won four doubles titles this year and reached the nals of three. In 2016,
theyre aiming to bring home gold from Rio. As CNN wrote about Sithole (but which is
true of Montjane, too), SA may have another Paralympian to inspire the world.
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CHANGEMAKERS
& CRUSADERS
As founders of Source and Southern Guild businesses
that export South African and African design to the world
Trevyn and her husband Julians tastes are trusted.
Theyve found locally made chandeliers that now hang in
the White House, supplied the Conran Shop with beaded
life-size elephants for its store windows in London, Paris
and Tokyo, and provided Jamie Oliver with items for his
homeware range. Trevyns 22-year stint in London has
given her access to a huge network of retailers all eager
to snap up the unique work of our continent. But perhaps
the couples biggest contribution has been to create the
proper infrastructure in SA to develop, promote and export
quality work, with many artisans businesses booming due
to orders secured by the McGowans (in 2013 alone,
R22 millions worth). They host exhibitions overseas and
showcase our talent at expos for the past few years,
African pieces have caused ripples at Design Days Dubai,
the Collective 1 Design Fair New York and Design Miami/
Basel. They were named one of the Power 100 in the art
world by Art+Auction; are orchestrators of the Danish-
funded Design Network Africa (which won the Africa
Design Award this year), launched GUILD this February,
the rst international design fair in Africa, and Trevyn is
curating the new R50 million Watershed design market
at Cape Towns Waterfront, SAs most visited tourist site.
Meaning a lot more exposure for Africas special aesthetic.
TREVYN & JULIAN McGOWAN
THE STYLE SQUAD
JONATHAN
JANSEN
VOICE OF REASON
It takes courage to be
critical, to be an irritant
voice of good sense and
even better judgment when
your contemporaries are
congratulating themselves
on perceived progress. But
Prof Jansen, vice chancellor
and rector of the University
of the Free State and
internationally recognised
luminary in education, has
continuously held up a
mirror to SAs education
system, calling for an
overhaul of schooling. Hes
a mosquito in the ear of the
state, saying things like the
education crisis is a real
threat to our democracy.
And Jansen doesnt limit his
comments to what happens
in the classroom. A prolic
tweeter and commentator
on most challenges facing
our country, hes become
a beacon, an inspiring voice
for transformation and
integration recognised
once more in his latest
award, the Nayef Al-Rodham
Prize for Transcultural
Understanding, from the
British Academy for
Humanities & Social Sciences.
As a moral compass, he points
out good leadership, tells
the government where it
needs to pull up its socks,
reminds parents of their
responsibilities and teaches
children the power of
dreams. His sharp wit and
even sharper tongue pricks
the conscience of us all.
Now thats patriotism.
Read last years prole
on citypress.co.za
PETER JONES
CANCER WARRIOR
In the late 70s, at Stellenbosch Medical School, Dr Peter Jones discovered that a drug
called 5-Aza-C could be used to activate dormant genes in cancerous cells to get them
healthy again. This led, eventually, to a treatment for bone-marrow disorders, and
a whole new eld of science called epigenetics (how genes are turned off and on). Jones
who was born in Cape Town, got his BSc in then-Rhodesia and his PhD in London
emigrated to the US in 1977 to work at the University of Southern California. He is now
an acclaimed pioneer in the ght against cancer, with a medal of honour from the American
Cancer Society and elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, among many awards. He is a regular speaker at international conferences,
and in February it was announced hell be heading up the new cancer research hub at
the Van Andel Institute in Michigan. But it is as co-director of the Stand-Up-to-Cancer
dream team that hes hit on the perhaps the biggest idea of all: We researchers will
not compete against each other which, very much of the time we do in science but
compete against cancer as a team. And that is what will make all the difference. G
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