Young Benonians make Mail & Guardian 200 list
Three Benonians made it onto the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans list.
The 200 young South Africans were announced on June 29 at Emperors Palace.
Each year the Mail & Guardian profiles young people who have stood out from the pack and have shown that through them, the country’s future is bright.
The u-35s have shown themselves to be leaders.
Daveyton resident Kwandile Sikhosana, who is the co-founder and chairperson of the Daveyton Book Club, was named under the education list.
The Daveyton Book Club is an organisation that seeks to address illiteracy by establishing mini-libraries and book clubs for disadvantaged communities through partnerships with community developers across the country.
The organisation hosts various campaigns, from feeding the homeless and clothing street kids, to providing free basic project management training, computer skills and entrepreneurship.
Sikhosana said being on the list makes it a great achievement because it is internationally recognised.
“The book club has recently collaborated with the South African National Park and travelled to the Free State to learn and engage with other partners about environmental studies, climate change and the role that countries play in providing our country with water,” he said.
“Through the book club, we will provide solutions to problems that arise when people don’t take care of a scarce natural resources such as water.”
Sikhosana is working on establishing resource centres in the Benoni area in partnership with Kids Haven.
“Kids Haven has been generous enough to offer us space to create a resource centre and people from all 19 townships and nine towns will be able to assist in developing the centre, he said.
He added that he is also working on establishing the Brakpan University Initiative, proposing the redevelopment of an underutilised facility in Brakpan into a university campus.
The proposal has been put to the department of higher education and is at the feasibility study stage.
Motheo Khoaripe, a business journalist at eNCA, was named under the film and media list.
The Daveyton resident completed a BA in corporate communications from the University of Johannesburg in 2010.
He started working at YFM at the age of 24 under the guidance of Zukile Majova, the editor of the station at the time, before moving onto Power FM, where he was mentored by Siki Mgabadeli.
Telling stories about start-up businesses and how they’ve developed into fully-fledged businesses along the years also serves as a career highlight.
DA Ward 73 Clr Sinethemba Matiwane was named under the politics and government category.
The 31-year-old is determined to make a real difference for residents and he has been involved in politics since 2005 when he joined student movements at the university.
Matiwane’s first achievement in his role as a councillor was to provide running water to the informal settlement of Msholozi near Apex.
This was followed by seeing to the provision of 106 chemical toilets in the area, replacing the appalling pit toilets that had been hand-dug by the community.
His motto in life is to serve the people.
Also read: Boy (12) inspired by mother’s illness
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