Home » 40 South Africans Under 40 – Part 3

40 South Africans Under 40 – Part 3

Forty years ago South African youth influenced the way today’s young South Africans wield their own historical impact on the country. Continued… In this series of profiles, we highlight 40 South Africans born since 1976 who have changed South Africa, or even the world in their own unique way through politics, culture, business, sport and […]

By SAPeople Contributor
03-07-16 17:20
in Fab South African Stuff

Forty years ago South African youth influenced the way today’s young South Africans wield their own historical impact on the country. Continued…

In this series of profiles, we highlight 40 South Africans born since 1976 who have changed South Africa, or even the world in their own unique way through politics, culture, business, sport and public service.

21. AB de Villiers – cricketer

Superb batting, a calm confidence and a winning smile sums Proteas captain and batsman AB de Villiers perfectly, but he is much more. Due to stylish gameplay and ability to strike a ball anywhere in the field, he has become one of cricket’s most popular proponents, both at home and around the world. It’s also earned him the nickname ‘Mr 360’. De Villiers plays in all formats of the game, including time in the fast-paced Indian Premier League, where he rivals even West Indian power- player Chris Gayle in both runs scored and popularity. As Proteas captain, he has fully mastered the modern game: De Villiers holds batting records for the fastest fifty, hundred and one hundred fifty score in ODI cricket, the fastest Test hundred by a South African and the fastest T20 fifty by a South African. Ultimately, he is ranked by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as the best batsman in the world in all formats of the game right now. A fan favourite in South Africa, De Villiers has used his popularity to begin cricket workshops in a number of rural schools, hoping to inspire youngsters to think and hit big. On his success, De Villiers is humble but grateful, telling South African Cricket magazine that “I can never win a game alone. Every time I’m out there, it’s about the team and about the country”.

https://youtu.be/Ixw-H18NfxY

22. Lauren Schroeder – palaeoanthropologist

https://twitter.com/ms_lotti/status/610593410458779648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Schroeder is one of South Africa’s top archaeologists and experts working on the forefront of evolution and diversification of Pleistocene Homo, the “missing link” between the Australopith extinct genus of hominids and the genus of modern humans over two million years ago. More simply, she explained to the Mail & Guardian: “This period is important as it marks the emergence of our genus Homo; the beginning of our humanness.” Schroeder is involved with both the Malapa and Rising Star hominid projects at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. She is also part of the research team studying recent fossil discoveries, including Australopithecus sediba and Homo Naledi, all of which she describes as “unravelling questions about our origins adds an additional layer to our rich African identity and heritage”. Schroeder has authored a number of publications and academic presentations internationally, and will take up a post-doctoral research associate position at the State University of New York. But she hopes to return to South Africa to teach and share her passion for uncovering the secrets of humankind’s prehistory hidden away right here in South Africa. Her advice to learners and budding researchers is “never stop questioning”.

23. Karen Zoid – singer

Dubbed South Africa’s “Queen of Rock”, Zoid has had an influence on both her large rock music fan base and the greater national cultural landscape. Zoid shot to fame in 2001 with her iconic youth anthem Afrikaners is Plesierig that poked fun and celebrated a generation coming of age in the new South Africa. A winner of numerous local music awards, including Best Female Artist SAMA in 2008, Zoid has toured right across the country, to diverse, appreciative audiences at South Africa’s premier music and cultural festivals. She has performed with the likes of Vusi Mahlasela, Dorothy Masuka and Zolani Mahola. Her duet with Francois van Coke, Toe Vind Ek Jou, is one of South Africa’s biggest iTunes hits and has over a million views YouTube. In between live performances and her Kyknet talkshow Republiek van Zoid Afrika, she is also a mentor on the popular reality TV show The Voice: South Africa where she helps nurture new talent.

24. Lady Skollie – artist and social media influencer

Laura Windvogel, AKA Lady Skollie, is one of South Africa’s leading contemporary artists, and an outspoken social media influencer through her numerous networks. She describes the power of immediate interaction from social media as empowering, telling the Superbalist fashion and culture website that “(the world is) definitely nearing a space where our thoughts and opinions resonate louder than ever before”. In between creating controversial yet engaging art, Skollie runs a full gamut of multimedia operations, including podcasting, photography and writing. It is on her Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds that she creates a uniquely South African, humourous and youth-orientated vibe.

25. Faith47 – street artist

Faith47 is the internationally-acclaimed South African street artist, with works exhibited on numerous public city spaces around the world, including Taipei, Manchester and Cape Town. She is often compared to English art provocateur Banksy, in at least her temperament. Faith47’s art attempts to disarm the strategies of global realpolitik and speaks to the complexities of the history of the human condition and its global existential search.

South African music, culture and reality Mahala magazine calls her “one of South Africa’s most unflinching and overtly political artistic voices”. Her most famous works include the Capax Infiniti mural in Portland, US, and her Fees Must Fall graffiti at university campuses across South Africa.

26. Siba Mtongana – chef and television personality

Mtongana is a passionate and dynamic food enthusiast, bringing style and charisma to South Africa television food scene. Her popular DStv Food Network show Siba’s Table is broadcast in more than 130 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, USA, Australia and Asia. With a degree in food, nutrition and consumer sciences, Mtongana is popularising healthy living at both home and around the world, all with unique African flavours and an easy-going accessibility. She has won three prestigious Galliova (international food) Awards for her recipe development, food styling and food journalism, and, in 2014, was honoured by O magazine’s Power List as one of Africa’s most influential women alongside actress Lupita Nyong’o and South African Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.

27. Victor Dlamini – writer, podcaster

As a former journalist, Dlamini has always asked tough questions and offered measured but passionate commentary on South African life. He left journalism and a stint in corporate communications to combine his two loves: photography and literature. His photography work includes portraiture of South African writers, artists and music stars. Dlamini hosts the popular Victor Dlamini Literary Podcast, where he hosts top South African writers and literary experts, passionately analysing South African and African literature, in particular how language and the written word reflects the African experience. His life philosophy, he tells the Books Live website, is to “decide what is important in your own life, and then do it with all the love and care possible”.

28. Tsitsi Chiumya – game designer

After Robot is a uniquely South African board game, in the same vein as Monopoly or Risk, which uses the local taxi industry as a backdrop to learning how business works and understanding South African culture. The game is the brainchild of Chiumya and his team at Shapa Studios. Chiumya wants use locally designed board games and computer games as an educational tool and a community builder. In his youth he played the traditional game of morabaraba (or African chess), from which he learnt a lot. Speaking to the Mail & Guardian, he says his dream is to put South Africa on the gaming map, especially as board games begin to enjoy a resurgence around the world, adding that “games that are made from a South African or African perspective can create experiences that will cross cultures and bring all people of the world together”.

29. Simon Mayson – urban planner

Director of inner city transformation for the City of Johannesburg, Mayson is tasked with solving the housing challenge in South Africa’s largest urban hub. He does so with great enthusiasm, perfectly placed to make a real change for thousands of ordinary residents of the city. Mayson is currently co-ordinating the development of the Inner City Housing Implementation Plan, through a partnership with the Johannesburg Social Housing Organisation, Johannesburg Development Agency, the City’s Planning Department and Housing Department. “Inner-city Johannesburg,” Mayson tells Mail & Guardian, “despite being a mayoral priority and pinpointed at provincial and national level as the hub and core of Gauteng, had neither formal policy, nor implementation by the housing department. Yet decent, affordable housing is arguably the key to transformation there.” He has worked across Africa, discovering new ways to meet the urban expansion challenges in a truly African way, embodying both the spirit ofUbuntu and the importance of uplifting ordinary citizens with on-the- ground interaction. “I aspire to be a change-maker, a thinker and a doer,” he says.

30. Trevor Noah – comedian, TV presenter

Without doubt, Noah is the most famous South African in the world right now, having become the host of one of America’s most popular late night television shows, The Daily Show. There he brings his acerbic, down-to-earth African wit and cool outsider hipness to the realm of US politics and pop culture. But it has been a long road to where he is now, having done his time on the South African stand-up comedy circuit for over 15 years. He has acted and presented in various home-grown shows, before trying his luck in the US and Europe as a comedian. Equally able to tackle the US riotous pre-election season and the global politics, Noah has settled in nicely as Daily Show host, and the show has made Noah a popular staple in the lives of young Americans’ (and South Africans).

Source: SouthAfrica.Info, Mail & Guardian, Young 200 South Africans, Wikipedia, South African History Online and other online sources