We officially launched the Call for Nominations 2017 with an event at 15 on Orange, the African Pride Hotel in Cape Town.

Guests included our Cape Town-based #Mzansi100 of 2016, Independent Media Executive Chairman Dr Iqbal Surve, Group Executive Mike Ntsasa, our esteemed editor of The Young Independents Saajida Francis and our keynote speaker of the evening, South Africa’s new Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

“I’m honoured to have been chosen to address this as Young Independents call for nominations, most importantly, I am privileged to speak to the people in whose hands the future of this country is, the youth,” the public protector addressed in her opening speech.

READ: #Mzansi100Top2017: Public Protector supports TYI to encourage young leaders

Referencing Ludwick Marishane, founder and creator of DryBath Gel, “On the gravel roads of Limpopo, with an allowance of R50 a week, I came up with a way for the world not to bath. What is stopping you?”

A question, Mkwebane says, we should indeed be asking ourselves.

She applauds Independent Media for creating an opportunity, a platform for young South Africans like The Young Independents, in which unemployment rate are higher amongst persons between the ages of 15-35 years.

Her office has worked on a number of cases where young people have had businesses “strangled” by opportunists, where young people have been assisting the Public Protector office, saying that young people do indeed have a role in assisting her and her team.

To conclude, she quoted Marishane saying, “My ideal world would have limited economic inequality. Let us say the richest person in my world would not be a thousand times wealthier than the poorest person.”

Click here for the Call for Nominations 2017 form

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