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The Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) is on a mission to make agriculture fashionable.

The department recently hosted the Youth in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (YAFF) Awards that attracted about 200 young farmers from the region.

Ike Lekgoro (36) learnt to work with his hands from a young age and used that knowledge to become a shoemaker who is well known for the quality of his work.

Lekgoro founded Tlotlego Handcrafts, which makes men’s leather footwear, belts and wallets.

Women in male-dominated fields still experience unfair treatment and other forms of inequality, and this motivates Kganya Mogashoa (28) to fight for women’s rights through her art.

As a full-time fine artist, Johannesburg-born Mogashoa says she is passionate about addressing the lack of female representation in leadership positions and fighting the social ills that affect women. 

“The art scene is still predominantly male; a lot of female artists don’t get the recognition they deserve,” she says.

A mechanic from Umlazi Township in Durban has been successful in getting his workshop accredited to offer in-service training to artisan students from technical vocational education and training (TVET) colleges to complete their studies.

Sanele Ndlovu (40), a qualified electrical engineer, was motivated to open his own workshop after experiencing difficulties in securing in-service training to complete his diploma at the Mangosuthu University of Technology. His workshop is called Saints Mechanic and Panelbeaters.

Not only did Captain Tebogo August (37) from Lephengville in Hammanskraal survive being sexually abused at a young age, but she has gone on to write an inspirational book encouraging other survivors to take back their power.

August, who is a military journalist at the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), says being raped at the age of six by a close family member robbed her of her childhood.

A KwaZulu-Natal mother has invented a tonic that enhances breast milk production.

Thandeka Jali is the owner of Lactease, which she founded in 2020 after extensive research to help women struggling to produce enough milk for breastfeeding.

“I had a background in infant nutrition after I worked for a non-government organisation dealing with early childhood development. I resigned in 2020 to focus on this business full time,” Jali said.

Nomfundo Mkhaba (35) from Umkomaas in KwaZulu-Natal co-founded Waste for Change in 2019 to encourage her community to adopt the three Rs: Reduce, Recycle and Reuse.

Through her organisation, Mkhaba wants to create a safe living environment by reducing the waste that ends up in rubbish dumps. She would like to see communities taking responsibility for the spaces they live in and keeping them clean.

Anneeda Pekeur (33) from Montagu in the Western Cape is the proud mother of three-year-old Evan John. However, her journey to motherhood was not easy as Pekeur has stage 4 endometriosis, which makes it difficult to fall pregnant.

She had several surgeries and medical procedures and took various medications, but still did not get pregnant. Eventually, she and her husband ran out of money for the costly treatments and had to accept that Pekeur would not be able to carry their child. Instead of abandoning the idea of being a mom, Pekeur adopted little Evan.

A Limpopo lawyer has entered the custom-made furniture business to heed government’s call for local production and buy local to create employment and maintain livelihoods after the COVID-19 lockdown.

Hlamarisa Ndaba (33) was among many who suffered during lockdown as her law firm could not provide an income. As a result, she used her savings to start her own furniture-manufacturing business, Precision Interiors, in Gauteng.