Accountability Lab South Africa launched its fifth Integrity Icon campaign in 2022. The dedicated team also runs a youth film fellowship and completed a series of community dialogues and podcasts all around SA, focused on social accountability issues including youth unemployment and gender-based violence.

Integrity Icon: Recent Icon winners include Goodman Sibongeleni Mkhize, an accounting teacher who supports learners beyond his classroom by providing accounting lessons and coaching talented learners in sports. Desiree Sehlapelo has prioritized the restoration of public trust in government services by modeling excellent service, including sourcing funding to drive government projects that benefit the community. Warrant Officer Bongani Eric Siyona works with different organizations to uplift young people, including helping them get their learner’s and driver’s licenses and organizing food parcels for patrollers in the area. Dr. Anna Cross goes out of her way to ensure all her patients receive the best medical care when they visit Masiphumelele Clinic. She has also set up a Facebook community page to inform community members about various services and government information and answer health-related questions. Rounding up our group of Icons is Adell Lebabo. Through her initiative, “Adopt a Learner,” she is helping underserved learners with their education needs and has made it her mission to ensure that no child is left behind because of poverty.

Integrity Icon Film Fellowship: The Integrity Icon Film Fellowship gives young people an opportunity to gain skills in filmmaking and storytelling. Our 2022 Integrity film fellows in South Africa are attending various training workshops covering some of the most critical parts of inclusive filmmaking, including stakeholder mapping and building unlikely engagements. They have developed workable concepts around mental health, youth unemployment and community development.  

Accountabiliteas: Accountability Lab South Africa partnered with The Daily Vox for the listening campaign called ‘Voices of the Youth’, comprising a series of op-eds and podcasts platforming young people’s reflections throughout South Africa during 2021’s civil unrest.

Conversation Lab: The Conversation Lab series creates a virtual space to bring together unlikely actors to engage on topics of national interest. These topics were focused on the issues around accountability in South Africa. You can find these insightful discussions here.

University Debates: In this series of debates, we saw some of the young brilliant minds of South Africa go head-to-head to tackle issues of accountability that affect the youth of this country and to consider youth-led solutions. We had the pleasure of virtually hosting debating unions from Rhodes University, the University of Witwatersrand and the University of the Western Cape. Learn more about the University Debates here.

Youth For Civic Change (Y4CC): a series of civic education workshops on electoral participation and civic engagement with young people to promote youth participation in the local government elections, navigating local governance processes and accountability mechanisms. Working in close partnership with the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, we engaged young people between the ages of 13 and 26 who are either first-time voter or disengaged in government processes.

Meet the Icon: The Meet the Icon events were platforms held for Integrity Icons to share their stories with students to inspire them to join the public service and to foster conversations around what integrity means and why it is important. You can watch these conversations here.