This Way Up South Africa

What happens when social justice fighters leave millions of others behind?

In the latest conversation in our Rethinking Activism in Africa series, Mark Heywood speaks with Kenyan disability rights activist Mildred Omino about the barriers that people with disabilities face and why disability rights shouldn't be treated as separate.

Mildred traces her activism back to a remarkable act of defiance at school and challenges fellow activists to look beyond their own causes. From education and employment to climate change and disaster relief, she argues that genuine equality demands something more than good intentions.

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What if changing the world doesn't always mean fighting harder, shouting louder or working longer? In the first of our special Rethinking Activism in Africa conversations, activist and author Mark Heywood talks to Zandile Mqwathi about a radically different approach to social change. Drawing on her own journey from a young mother diagnosed with HIV to an activist and drama therapist, Zandile challenges the idea that commitment must come at the cost of exhaustion. She explores how rest can be an act of resistance, how theatre and storytelling can help us imagine a different future, and why kindness, joy...

After more than 40 years fighting for human rights and social justice, Mark Heywood is still angry about injustice — and still convinced we can do something about it. A co-founder of South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign, Mark joins us to talk about his new book, Rethinking Activism in Africa, and the remarkable people across the continent who are finding new ways to bring about change.

We talk about the worrying rise of xenophobia in South Africa, his determination to help fix the country's struggling healthcare system, and why activism shouldn't be left to the activists. But this isn...

Abandoned by her mother at the age of three, Angela Yeung grew up knowing what it meant to struggle, but never stopped believing in what she could achieve. From hiding beneath her father's office desk as a child to building a successful jewellery business and standing on the summit of Mount Everest, she has an extraordinary story of courage and determination. But Angela's greatest ambition isn't to conquer mountains. It's to change lives. Through her Impilo Collection Foundation, she is restoring dignity and hope to women affected by gender-based violence. She shares the deeply moving story of finding her...

Mandisa Jackson speaks openly about surviving an abusive marriage, imprisonment, having stage 3 cancer, and finding purpose in supporting others. Through Hillbrow Radio and the community volunteers she calls her GBV Warriors, she helps women facing violence, takes anti-bullying programmes into schools and brings neighbours together across nationalities. She tells us about her faith, the need for financial independence and what it takes to turn concern for your community into practical action.

What if the problem you once struggled to overcome could become your purpose? Entrepreneur and single mother Banele Manana founded the Be an Angel Foundation to give young people something she never had: the chance to explore different careers through practical, hands-on experience. She talks about building her own successful business, creating career exploration camps, and why hope begins when young people can see possibilities beyond the world they already know.

In this episode, we hear from the amazing Joni Brenner, an artist helping a cooperative of women in Zimbabwe to produce beads that are not just beautiful necklaces but also an enterprise that sustains the livelihoods of women and their families. Joni shares how it all began with a “happy accident,” which led to collaborations with William Kentridge, among others, and how openness and serendipity foster creativity.

In this episode, we talk to Nomsa Mazwai, an economist, musician, social entrepreneur and Fulbright scholar whose work offers a distinctive perspective on community development South Africa. From pioneering Soweto Night Out, an innovative tourism initiative designed to create safer public spaces while generating local economic opportunities, to developing new social enterprise ideas and recording music inspired by her own journey, Nomsa combines intellectual rigour with a deep commitment to service.

Nomsa's work crosses boundaries between economics, creativity and community action. Rather than treating unemployment, safety and inequality as separate problems, she is interested in how ideas...

Noelene Kotschan is the founder and CEO of PinkDrive, a pioneering organisation changing cancer screening in South Africa by taking vital health services directly to communities.

What began as a response to the devastating impact of breast cancer has grown into a nationwide effort to make early detection accessible to people who might otherwise struggle to reach screening services. PinkDrive's mobile health units travel across South Africa, bringing cancer screening and health education closer to the people who need them.

In our conversation, Noelene talks about the realities of cancer in South Africa and why...

Carol's approach is rooted in the belief that lasting change cannot simply be imposed from outside. It grows through relationships, trust and an understanding of what people actually need. Her work combines compassion with action, helping individuals and families build greater security while strengthening the communities around them.

In this conversation, Carol talks about the experiences that led her to this work and the realities she encounters on the ground. We discuss poverty, inequality, women's empowerment and the pressures facing children and families in communities where opportunities can be painfully limited.

Her story is also...

Ferial Adams is an environmental justice activist showing how citizen science can give ordinary people the evidence they need to fight for clean, safe water. Across South Africa, communities struggling with water pollution are often told there is no problem, or wait months and even years for action. Ferial's work demonstrates how testing the water themselves can begin to change that.

Through WaterCAN, Ferial has helped put simple water-testing tools into the hands of communities, enabling people to collect evidence about the quality of the water they drink and the rivers and streams around them. Citizen science...

Chantal Nativel is an environmental activist taking on river pollution in Johannesburg, where neglected waterways have become dumping grounds for waste, sewage and plastic. Rather than waiting for somebody else to solve the problem, Chantal decided to start with the river running through her own community and see what one determined person could do.

What began with picking rubbish out of the water grew into a much larger campaign to restore and protect Johannesburg's rivers. Chantal's work demonstrates how environmental activism can begin at an intensely local level, with one person noticing a problem, refusing to accept...

Welcome Witbooi's extraordinary story brings community development South Africa into sharp focus, showing how the most difficult personal experiences can become a force for change.Today, as director of the Brightspark Foundation, he works with young people and communities to tackle some of the circumstances that allow gangs and crime to flourish. His story gives him an unusual understanding of both the attraction of gang culture and the enormous difficulty of leaving it behind.

In our conversation, Welcome talks candidly about growing up in Valhalla Park on the Cape Flats, becoming involved in gangsterism and eventually finding...

Bokashi Bran is offering a practical approach to composting South Africa can use to turn everyday food waste into something useful rather than sending it to landfill.

Food waste is a surprisingly large environmental problem. Every day, valuable organic material is thrown away and transported to landfill, where it becomes part of a much wider waste problem. Bokashi provides an alternative by allowing food waste to be fermented in a sealed container before being returned to the soil.

Bronwyn explains the process and why bokashi can deal with materials that people may hesitate to put...

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Sifiso Gumbi believes entrepreneurship can create opportunities where conventional routes into employment have failed. In this episode of This Way Up, he talks about enterprise, innovation and the practical work of helping people build livelihoods and create possibilities for themselves in South Africa.

Sifiso's story is grounded in the belief that economic opportunity does not have to begin with a conventional job. For people facing unemployment or limited access to established career paths, entrepreneurship can offer another route: identifying a need, developing an idea and finding a way to turn that idea into something sustainable.

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This Way Up is a podcast about the people creating social change South Africa needs, often in unexpected, practical and deeply personal ways. Hosted by Babette Gallard, the series meets people who see something that isn't working and decide to do something about it.

These aren't conversations about abstract solutions. They are stories about people putting ideas into practice: cleaning polluted rivers, testing unsafe water, creating opportunities for young people, supporting vulnerable communities, tackling food waste, improving cancer awareness and finding new ways to build stronger communities.

Across South Africa, individuals and organisations are responding...