Sandile Ndelu – Gender Activist:
“There is something about us that the world can’t kill or deplete,” declares 24-year old, Sandile Ndelu. “We are resilient and we have grit. We’ll never be erased because our existence is important.”
Ndelu is talking about herself and those she has dedicated her young life fighting for – transgender and gender non-conforming people. People who also face racism and socio-economic inequality. Ndelu, a post-graduate law student, is a founding member of the UCT Trans Collective.
The Collective aims to represent the experiences and needs of UCT’s transgender students and lobbies UCT’s management to make policy changes on behalf of trans students. These include requesting the removal of the gender declaration (which is printed on student cards), as well as fighting for the safe and comfortable use of campus bathrooms.
“Keep going, it’s not the end.”
Off-campus, Ndelu has worked with several NGOs including Rape Crisis, Equal Education and South Africa’s first non-profit dedicated to transgender issues, Gender DynamiX.
She’s now focused on building a cross-university Trans Collective that will provide a support and information network between South Africa’s 26 public universities.
“The world wasn’t created for me, so I must reimagine it so that people like me can live peaceful, safe lives.”
