Every so often, life places a moment in front of you that feels like a quiet confirmation from the universe — a reminder that the path you have chosen is not only valid but necessary.
Today, I am humbled, honoured, and profoundly energised to share that I have been selected for the 2025/26 Futurelect Women in Public Office, South Africa Programme cohort.
Futurelect reviewed an extraordinary number of applications from across the country, and being chosen among such powerful and capable women is both a blessing and a responsibility I carry with deep seriousness.
When I received the email, my heart expanded. My first thought was not simply gratitude, but clarity: this is exactly where I am meant to be.
My leadership journey has never followed a predictable or effortless path. It has unfolded in community halls, rural villages, courtrooms, classrooms, protests, policy dialogues, WhatsApp groups, and digital platforms.
Through my organisation, The Great People of South Africa, I have worked at grassroots level with women in marginalised and working-class communities, advancing advocacy, civic participation, community legal empowerment, and democratic engagement.
Our work is rooted in the belief that a truly democratic nation must be built on the backs of the women who fought for the freedom we enjoy today. I have challenged systems that preferred my silence, confronted power structures designed to shrink women, and held the line even when the terrain was uneven and the battles were heavy.
Through joy and resistance, grief and growth, I have come to understand that leadership is service — deeply human, often difficult, but always transformative.
Yet this journey did not begin in boardrooms or national spaces. It began in Ndofela village in Sterkspruit, where a rural community taught me humility, resilience, and the courage to stand up for others. It continued in Soweto, a place that sharpened my political consciousness and taught me that resistance is lived daily, not performed occasionally.
Today, I lead an award-winning grassroots advocacy organisation, working alongside women whose experiences mirror my own. Our work includes supporting community legal empowerment and development, facilitating Gender Based Violence programs, political participation, amplifying women and girl's voices, and strengthening democratic literacy — including for queer women, women with disabilities, and rural women whose voices have too often been excluded from national discourse.
I am a survivor of South Africa's many forms of violence agains women, including gender-based violence. I am a community activist, a visionary leader, a storyteller who uses digital platforms to shift narratives, and a proud Women Of The South Speak Out (WOSSO) Fellow graduate.
Every chapter of my life has prepared me to lead with compassion, courage, and unwavering purpose.
Even as my work grew in civil society, I knew in my spirit that my contribution to South Africa would not end there. I have always felt called to step into the arena of governance, policy, legislation, and political decision-making.
My journey has been leading me to a bigger table — not to simply take a seat but to reshape the table entirely. My vision is bold and unapologetic: I aspire to become the first woman President of South Africa. My ambition is not rooted in power, but in possibility. It is not driven by title, but by transformation.
I believe our country deserves leadership that listens deeply, heals honestly, protects fearlessly, and imagines boldly — leadership that reflects the dignity and dreams of its people.
Coming into the Futurelect selection process, I carried with me the political home that has reshaped my values: the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The IFP is where I first learned that politics is not merely a contest of ideas but a lived expression of community, dignity, and ethical responsibility. It is where I witnessed leadership grounded in service rather than ego, discipline rather than performance, and principle rather than convenience.
These values guide me daily as I grow into my political voice and imagine a South Africa anchored in justice, accountability, and compassion.
But yes — people still ask me: “Why the IFP?” They point to the party’s historically male leadership, knowing I am a feminist and gender activist. Others remind me that I am a Xhosa woman entering a party long perceived as Zulu-centric.
My answer is simple: the IFP is a party for all people. It is a party in transition, a party capable of renewal, a party actively evolving under the leadership of President Velenkosini Hlabisa, whom I consider a feminist in his own right.
His approach to leadership — grounded in humility, inclusivity, integrity, and transformation — reflects the South Africa I want to help build. As leaders, we cannot retreat from spaces simply because they are still growing. We step into them, expand them, challenge them, and grow with them.
My presence in the IFP is intentional; I am there to help shape the political discourse of a democratic South Africa — strengthening unity in our diversity and advancing gender equality from within, not from the sidelines.
During the Futurelect group interviews, I sat among brilliant young women representing a rich range of political homes. Each one was articulate, grounded, and deeply committed to serving South Africa.
In that room, our differences became strengths, and our shared purpose became undeniable.
We represented varied histories, ideologies, and colours, yet we were united by a singular intention: to build a country worthy of its people. Standing proudly as the woman from the IFP reaffirmed my belief that the future of South African politics is not homogenous — it is collaborative, principled, ethical, and increasingly women-led.
This is why the Futurelect fellowship resonates so deeply with me. Futurelect, founded in 2018, is an independent, non-partisan organisation dedicated to nurturing ethical and transformational leaders across the African continent.
Their mission is to prepare a new generation of civic, political, and government leaders equipped for the complexities of modern governance.
Their programmes are intensive, interdisciplinary, and grounded in real-world leadership — offering tools in governance, public service, political literacy, ethical decision-making, and emotional intelligence.
As part of the Women in Public Office cohort, I will participate in five rigorous seminars — some virtual, some in-person — focused on personal leadership development, public service skills, political systems learning, and the often-overlooked discipline of self-work.
Attendance is mandatory because Futurelect does not mould symbolic leaders; it cultivates leaders who understand that governance is an act of service, responsibility, and continual reflection.
I am ready for this path. Ready to grow emotionally, intellectually, ethically, and politically. Ready to learn from facilitators and speakers whose brilliance inspires entire movements.
Ready to strengthen the backbone of my political ambitions with knowledge, discipline, networks, and vision. Ready to serve South Africa with integrity, courage, and purpose.
This fellowship is not the destination. It is preparation — the sharpening of tools, the strengthening of spirit, the refining of vision, and the formal beginning of the journey I have been walking toward all my life.
I carry this opportunity with gratitude, with groundedness, and with the audacity of a young woman who knows her purpose and refuses to shrink from it.
To Futurelect — thank you for believing in my leadership potential. To my community — thank you for shaping me, challenging me, and believing in me; your stories, resilience, and courage accompany me into every room I enter.
To young girls across South Africa — your dreams are not too big, your voice is not too loud, and your ambition is not too much; the world needs you exactly as you are.
And to my future self — Madam President, we are on our way.
