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Meet our 2024 Shining Light Award Winners

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The Centre for Gender Equality, Wellness, and Leadership (GEWAL) at the Motsepe Foundation commemorated Women’s Month by honouring the crucial contributions of women who are sustaining and advancing South Africa’s democracy. The six women of honour were selected for their outstanding achievements, special skills, and commitment to advancing positive change for others.

 

Kgothatso Montjane  
 

Kgothatso Montjane had her left leg amputated at 12-years-old and only learned to play tennis at 19-years old. Without tennis court infrastructure, her school would create a makeshift net with chairs in the school hall. But despite these limitations, her talent flourished. She excelled in the sport and has represented South Africa at the Beijing and London Olympics. 

She is a woman of many firsts. She is the first black African to compete at all 4 grand slams in one calendar in 2019, and she is the first South African woman to win a French Open title since 1981. Recently, she became the first South African winner of Wimbledon since 1983. Coming full circle, she has established her own philanthropic foundation to build infrastructure that will enable more people with disabilities to discover and live their wildest dreams.

 

Sophie Williams-de Bruyn
 

We recognise Sophie Williams De Bruyn for her lifetime dedication towards advancing the public interest. She is a humble servant of the people and our recipient of the Shining Light Lifetime Achievement Award. While working at a textile factory she focused her attention towards resolving the concerns of working people and became a founding member of the South African Congress of Trade Unions. Within the Congress Movement she was an organiser and mobilised women around the many issues that affected them. Ahead of the historic 1956 march, Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Bertha Mashaba, Rahima Moosa, Ruth Mompathi, and Sophie Williams De-Bruyn travelled to different parts of the country to mobilise women and to encourage their fundraising to attend the march.

After the historic march she left South Africa and spent two decades in exile. In this time, in Zambia she established the Education Council for the education and training of ANC Cadres, in Namibia she established a Commerce Administration and Secretarial Science Unit to build the capacity of young ANC cadres in exile, and upon her return to South Africa she served as Head of the Administration during the first Consultative Conference to legalise the ANC. From the onset of South Africa’s democracy, she has committed herself in service of government and civil society in various capacities. We are honoured to confer this award to her and pay tribute to her life and work of incredible impact.

Sophie Mokoena
 

Sophie Mokoena has interviewed heads of state, among other influential figures. She has dedicated her expertise towards sustaining the integrity of South Africa’s democracy. While pursuing her Teaching Diploma in the early 90s, she was appointed Student Council Leader at Sebokeng College of Education. During the run-up to the first democratic elections, she introduced student empowerment programmes that provided voter education, democracy training, non-violent conflict resolution, and other necessary skills. She furthered her interest in peace and reconciliation and worked to bring diverse stakeholders together to create cultures of tolerance through the IEC, where she worked as a monitor in then trouble torn Vaal communities. As the recipient of our Shining Light Award for Media Excellence, we recognise her for her balanced insight on political, social, international, and national issues.

Likhapha Mbatha
 

Likhapha Mbatha is a lawyer by training, and in the early 90s she spearheaded gender studies initiatives and legal research that centred the rights of women. She worked alongside the founder of the National Movement for Rural Women, Lydia Komape-Ngwenya, and since 1993 she has dedicated her life and work towards understanding the challenges facing rural women.

Due to her academic background, she has prioritised implementing solutions based on research findings. This approach stands as her distinctive contribution, allowing the movement for rural women to influence law and policy development. The organisation has supported over 2,300 direct beneficiaries, and approximately 12,000 indirect community members. We are proud to recognise her as our Shining Light for rural women empowerment.

Andile Matukane
 

Andile Matukane is a farmer and innovator who we proudly recognise as our Shining Light in STEM excellence. With her master’s in plant pathology, she has honed her talents in plant and poultry agriculture, and she established Farmers Choice to facilitate innovation into the food production cycle in 2018.

Her headquarters is on the roof of one of South Africa’s biggest shopping centres in Pretoria, where she launched the hydroponic rooftop farming initiative. This initiative is building momentum towards rooftop to restaurant fresh vegetables, ensuring that densely populated cities have access to nutritious food. She recognises that many people have played a role in supporting her dream, and she is now a mentor to young entrepreneurs and upcoming farmers.

Rose Molokoane 
 

Rose Molokoane launched the largest South African savings scheme by mobilising women to pool their savings and build their own homes. She has also been instrumental in crafting progressive housing policy for the benefit of the urban poor. She is the co-founder of the Federation of the Urban Poor, where she has helped more than 150 000 people pool their savings for infrastructure.

Unique to her approach, and throughout her struggle for development in poor communities, she has emphasised love and respect for one another, ensuring that dignity was sustained and shared among the poor and homeless. She has held the ear of world leaders including Nelson Mandela, Pope Francis, and Kofi Annan, and we are honoured to recognise her as our Shining Light in urban women empowerment.

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