Itumeleng Motlhabane, South Africa

Ms Itumeleng Motlhabane social activist from the rural province of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Her current position is a youth organiser for Equal Education (EE), a democratic youth movement in South Africa. At the University of Fort Hare, she studied Industrial Psychology and Business Management for her Bachelor of Commerce and is currently pursuing a Master of Business Management. As a champion of human rights, Itumeleng is committed to expanding her knowledge and civic skills post-university by obtaining a certificate in Just Lead at the University of Stellenbosch. She is also a Young African Leadership Institute (YALI) certified in Civic Leadership. In addition, she became a member of Activate! in 2019, part of the Fort Hare Autumn school for social democracy funded by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Itumeleng’s activism focuses on thematic fields like education, gender, and public health. She is involved in community work such as peer education at Helping Hands Health Care Centre and coordinated Emhlangeni CAN, aiming to emancipate young people in poor communities. Since 2019, she has been part of the youth cohort of Africa free of new HIV infections (AfNHi), an African network for HIV prevention and research. The International Partnership for Microbicides recognised her efforts in advocating for SRHR. Her SRHR experiences are shared on Inside My Purse, a blog for adolescents to share their stories about SRHR. She is also a member of the European Commission’s Youth Sounding Board. To maximise the participation of global youth in international partnerships, this board will advise the European Commission. Itumeleng continues to strengthen the voices of young people in marginalised communities until a significant number of young people run our state.