Right now, millions of young South Africans are locked out of opportunity simply because they cannot afford data. The problem: Data poverty = Job poverty  In South Africa, 1GB of data costs more than a loaf of bread. For unemployed youth in townships and rural wards like Thabazimbi, this means choosing between buying food or applying for a job online. 62% of South Africans say they cannot afford enough data to look for work. Government and companies now post 90% of jobs online. But if you don’t have Wi-Fi or data, you will never see them. At the same time, many people in our communities still rely on word-of-mouth and community notices for information. A physical job board brings opportunity directly to the people. The impact: This will change lives in every ward   1.  Jobs: Free Wi-Fi means a young person can apply for 10 jobs in a day instead of 1. Job boards mean even people without smartphones can see EPWP, municipal, and local business vacancies. 2.  Education: Learners and students can do research, submit assignments, and apply for NSFAS and bursaries without spending their grant money on data. 3.  Access to services: People can access SASSA, Home Affairs, and health information online for free. 4.  Small businesses: Spaza owners and street vendors can do online banking, marketing, and orders without data costs eating into their profit. This is about dignity and equality. Right now, opportunity only exists for people who can afford data. That is unfair.

Making a simple phone call can feel impossible in our community. Imagine being in a dangerous situation and unable to reach the police or an ambulance because your phone has no signal. It's a terrifying thought. This is our current reality, and we are tired of it. We desperately need the government to step in and help us. The struggles we face without reliable internet are so frustrating. When some of us are trying to work from home, the signal keeps dropping, making it hard to do our jobs and getting us in trouble with our bosses. Even our children are suffering; they can’t do their schoolwork properly because they cannot research. We cannot even entertain ourselves by streaming our favourite shows online. The lack of the internet is affecting our lives in so many ways.  We all have to come together and request the government to do something. Enough people signing this petition will show the government just how serious this is and Act. 

According to BBC, South Africa became the first country to ban the sale of skin lightening creams that have hydroquinone, that was in 1990[1]. Because we are the first country to ban creams with hydroquinone we should be leading the fight against harmful skin products, but that is not the case because many black women are still suffering the consequences of using harmful skin products, especially illegal skin lightening products. SAHPRA has a list of their responsibilities on their website[4], one of those resposibilities is ensuring that unregistered health products are removed from the public but, how can the public know when a product is illegal if SAHPRA doesn't list them on their website? According to SAHPRA’s section 21, certain unregistered products are allowed to be sold, how can we tell whether an unregistered product is authorised to be sold or not? SAHPRA has a list of registered health products on their website, it should be easy for them to have a list of products we should be wary of. Such transparency will allow people to make informed choices, it will help prevent the sale of dangerous skin products and also protect people’s health. The Guardian reported that skin lightening products are linked to cancer in black women, melanin found in black people protects the skin against sun damage and when they use illegal skin products they remove the protection they had against sun damage[2]. Despite regulations in place, Daily Maverick shared that South Africa's market of illegal skin lightening products is growing and the products are not only sold by informal vendors in shops but also online, quoting platforms like eBay, Takealot, Facebook and many more[3].  SAHPRA has the power to let people know what skin products are illegal, but they are choosing to turn a blind eye and instead, they tell us to report illegal health products. How can we report illegal products when we can’t even identify them? this negligence is putting more and more people’s health at risk because not everyone can identify illegal health products, a lot of these products are sold online, SAHPRA must evolve, catch up and utilise the internet to name and shame these products by publicising a list, inspect, raise awareness and share information. Let's come together by signing this petition, tagging South African Health Products Regulated Authority(SAHPRA) on all their social media platforms and also visiting their website and tell them that we want a list of illegal skin products, we see their incompetence, we don’t like it and we won’t tolerate it anymore. [1] How South Africa banned skin lightening creams, BBC, July 3 2020 BBC Audio | Witness History | How South Africa banned skin-lightening creams   [2] Colonial ideas of beauty: how skin lightening products are linked to cancer in black African women, 30 July 2025, Kat Lay. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/30/colonial-beauty-skin-lightening-products-linked-cancer-black-african-women   [3] Skin lightening whitewash: Global and domestic bans of cosmetics containing Mercury prove to be skin deep, Tony Carnie for Daily Maverick, 15 February 2022. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-02-15-skin-lightening-whitewash-global-and-domestic-bans-of-cosmetics-containing-mercury-prove-to-be-skin-deep/  [4] SAHPRA’s Regulatory Compliance, Unit Responsibilities List. https://www.sahpra.org.za/inspectorate-pharma-licencing-and-regulatory-compliance/ 

When Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, their CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “We are absolutely not going to change plans around WhatsApp and the way it uses user data. WhatsApp is going to operate completely autonomously.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg lied. They went ahead and updated WhatsApp’s terms and conditions in 2016, Facebook gave itself access to a wide range of our personal data without our permission. Now, we only have until 15th May until Whatsapp goes back on their word and forces users to opt-in to their terms and conditions. This cannot be allowed. The South African law protects us as users and places emphasis on our protection against companies and corporates that infringe on our privacy laws. “The POPI Act broadly requires businesses to limit their use of personal data, get consent before using it, and let users withdraw their consent later on [1].” Whatsapp completely disregards this act and leaves users with no form of consent before or after signing into the terms and conditions. Mzansi recently introduced new laws to protect people's personal information. “The POPI Act broadly requires businesses to limit their use of personal data, get consent before using it, and let users withdraw their consent later on [1].” Many aspects of POPI are similar to European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which has helped protect people in Europe from companies using their personal information without their consent.  Billions of people around the world use Facebook services - Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram - in order to connect with friends and family. WhatsApp is the main company world wide with over 2 billion users. This gives Facebook the power to coerce people to share their personal information so they can profit even more than they have.  [1] South Africa's POPI Act: https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/blog/popi/#:~:text=The%20POPI%20Act%20broadly%20requires,done%20in%20a%20Privacy%20Policy.

We have elected leaders and bestowed on them the responsibility to govern, to enable us to achieve a better life for all – not themselves. We, as people of South Africa, have a right to know in whose interests’ decisions – supposedly in "our” name – were and continue to be made. The culture of secrecy and impunity must come to an end if our democracy is to thrive. Transparency and accountability are non-negotiable, as too are the requirements for transformative actions to address the injustices that remain embedded in our social, economic and political systems. Our constitution is revolutionary in its design, but the values and vision that it prescribes can only materialise if embraced by the state through which it is enacted. As people of this country, we all support the value and vision in the Constitution which protects the rights of the people in our country, it is the bedrock of our democracy and foundation of the rule of law. We, the undersigned, support/endorse this open letter to raise our voices in solidarity against state capture and impunity, and to say now is the time for us to be heard. The realities of the current moment cannot be met with silence and complacency. #ThePeopleSay #Wake-Up SA! Civil Society endorsements: Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) Corruption Watch (CW) Dullah Omar Institute (DOI) Equal Education (EE) Freedom Under Law (FUL) Legal Resources Centre (LRC) My Vote Counts (MVC) Open Secrets Organisation for Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) Section27 (S27) Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) Right2Know (R2K)

On 21 July 2020 the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Lindiwe Sisulu announced in her budget vote speech that her Department planned to allocate R600 million towards rental relief to tenants in affordable housing facing financial distress due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The funding, aimed at tenants in ‘formal affordable housing’ was meant to help those facing potential homelessness to meet their monthly rental obligations. This in turn would assist landlords who depended on rental income to survive. In her speech, the Minister made the undertaking that the details of the rent relief for such tenants would be published 30 days after her address.[2] IT IS NOW MORE THAN EIGHT MONTHS FOLLOWING THIS COMMITMENT AND NO DETAILS OF THE RELIEF SCHEME; NO POLICY PUBLISHED, AND NO FUNDING HAS BEEN RECEIVED BY TENANTS, WHO MAKE UP SOME OF THE PEOPLE HARDEST HIT BY THE PANDEMIC IN OUR COUNTRY. The stark reality is that between 2.2 and 3 million people lost their jobs in the first months of lockdown.[2] This has created a situation where households are caught in a double bind between maintaining their shelter and having enough food and water to stay alive. Correspondingly, the TPN Residential Rental Monitor for the fourth quarter of 2020 found that low end tenants had the weakest rental payment performance. Specifically, the report states that: “the “Less than R3,000/month” rental segment is populated by the most financially fragile tenant population, with significantly fewer financial “buffers” with which to weather any storms that translate into income loss, or those unexpected household expenses that arise periodically.” [3] In fact, the undertaking to provide R 600 million in rent relief was made to prevent the crisis that many of the 3 720 000 tenants [4] living in South Africa may now find themselves in. Albeit too little too late for tenants who have fallen victim to unlawful action by landlords and service providers across the country.[5] The consequences of these shortcomings taken together might be even more dire: on 9 March 2021, DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Cilliers Brink announced that the party is calling for the urgent lifting of Alert Level 1 lockdown regulations stating that the regulations make it “close to impossible” for property owners to obtain eviction orders.[6] We are teetering on the brink of a secondary national disaster where we stand to exacerbate a health crisis into a homelessness crisis. The former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing Leilani Farha has cautioned that “[i]n the face of this pandemic, a lack of access to adequate housing is a potential death sentence for people living in homelessness”[7]. Home has rarely been more of a life or death situation – Housing remains Healthcare! JOIN US IN DEMANDING THAT THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, WATER AND SANITATION DO THEIR JOB URGENTLY. [1] https://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-lindiwe-sisulu-human-settlements-dept-budget-vote-202021-21-jul-2020-0000# [2]https://cramsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Spaull-et-al.-NIDS-CRAM-Wave-1-Synthesis-Report-Overview-and-Findings-1.pdf [3]https://www.tpn.co.za/Group/Home/Media [4] http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02114thQuarter2020.pdf [5] https://www.iol.co.za/personal-finance/government-needs-to-subsidise-tenants-rentals-50528669 http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0318/P03182019.pdf [6]https://www.da.org.za/2021/03/da-calls-for-lifting-of-lockdown-regulations-to-restore-private-property-rights [7]https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Housing/SR_housing_COVID-19_guidance_rent_and_mortgage_payers.pdf

Lungelo Malevu, holding a BSc in Biological Sciences is one of many from Wits University who currently have historical debt “I owe R135 893.28 and the university has withheld my degree and I only have access to my unofficial transcript. This is a challenge because I cannot apply for a number of jobs since there is no proof that I have completed my degree” Portia Mosime, hoping to register for her final year in Psychology “my mother is unemployed but we survive through the money she makes from her vegetable garden which supplies her community with fresh veggies, however she makes less than R500 a month this is not enough to cover the outstanding debt at Wits amounting to R76 117.81” Students often financially excluded from institutions of higher learning are black female students from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. They account for close to 58% in universities and 57% in TVET colleges [4]. The lack of access to funding opportunities for higher learning affects them the most. Following the efforts made by the SRC and other important organizations, these testimonies should motivate people to add their names to this campaign to put more pressure on the financial committee (FinCo) as they are the ones responsible for determining the fees to be paid by students. Ultimately this should end the unequal access to institutions of higher learning affecting poor black South African youth. The efforts by NSFAS and other funding schemes can only assist a certain number of students, this further reduces the rate at which graduates enter the job market. Despite unemployment rates being high, the critical work of doctors and nurses requires a surplus of recent graduates based on the demands of the job. If a medical degree student fails to clear their historic debt they cannot graduate and enter the job market, potentially changing people’s lives. These dreams end up not being a reality. Therefore, the more support this campaign gains, the fight against academic exclusion due to finances is kept alive, students around this time are in distress and often end up further getting themselves into more debt and stress way before the academic year starts. Adding your name to this campaign at this moment ensures that the relevant decision makers can act now and implement these demands before the month comes to an end. This means that students with historic debt can continue with their studies. References [1] Wits Vuvuzela, 2019 Accessed here: https://www.wits.ac.za/registration/returning-undergraduate-students/ [2] Takalani Sioga for the Wits Vuvuzela. 3 August 2018. Accessed here: https://www.witsvuvuzela.com/2018/08/03/nsfas-tells-2019-applicants-to-wait/ [3] Michael Pedro for EWN, 2019. Accessed here: https://www.google.com/amp/s//ewn.co.za/2019/03/24/dhet-allocates-r697m-to-nsfas-to-settle-historic-debt-owed-to-universities/amp [4] South African Market. 12 November 2019 Category: Education accessed here: https://www.southafricanmi.com/education-statistics.html

The SABC started the selection process for "song of the year 2019" and opened voting lines to listeners even though they already knew that they did not have an agreement with the concept owners of "song of the year". The concept owners took the SABC to court to stop this. The Court then instructed the SABC to not air "song of the year 2019", resulting in a loss for all those who had already voted. It is false advertising and unfair to those who voted that the SABC has taken their money but did not deliver a song of the year countdown.

The Lenasia Tech Grounds has been left in a terrible state for more than 20 years. In the last few months the City of Johannesburg had issued a tender to support the call by the community to upgrade the facility. Approximately 4.2 million rand was allegedly allocated by the City for this project, on a scope of work not agreed to by any of the stakeholders. The Lenasia Tech Grounds is one of the largest facilities in Johannesburg that caters to sports teams and communities in the South of Johannesburg. The facility caters to the needs from areas such as Soweto, Lenasia, Lehae, Thembilihle, Lenasia South, Lawley, Ennerdale, Orange Farm and Eldorado Park. Thousands of young and old continue to use this facility but with growing neglect many have stopped playing sport and/or have moved on to other clubs in far more privileged areas. Draining local talent and make it difficult to sustain on going sports programs. "Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people that little else does. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair"- Nelson Mandela. Unfortunately this continued neglect of the facility further entrenches the divide between communities and has only left us with despair and hopelessness. “Gauteng Cricket Board CEO Gregory Fredericks made a statement that illustrated the stark reality facing suburbs and areas associated with the Group Areas Act movement during Apartheid. After highlighting that cricket, unlike other sporting codes, requires facilities and fields that are different in that it is played over longer durations, and associated infrastructure should in fact cater to those requirements, he made explicit the point about how dehumanising it is to have clubs in the province that compete at various levels, with no access to basic amenities throughout the day. This point can be clearly understood when seen through the lens of the Tech facility In Lenasia. A spread of 8 fields, with a single built structure of toilets that are not properly maintained and have minimal functionality remain the central feature of this facility. This council facility is shared by cricketers and soccer players alike, and this in no way assists either sporting code.” (Mangera, A, Sport as a Catalyst for Community and Social Development, 2017) We, the concerned residents of the Lenasia and Thembilihle area, sports bodies, cultural groups and organisations from in and around Lenasia who make use of the facility regularly, civil society and religious bodies, are calling for accountability from the Mayor, the MMC, and all department heads responsible for this project by the City of Johannesburg. This facility caters to thousands of people from all over the region and yet no clear scope of work had been given to the relevant stakeholders and to date all the work done at the facility does not account or reflect the expenditure of the tax payer’s money. We require immediate intervention and assessment into this matter to ensure all funds can be accounted for and spent on the development of the facility. With high levels of corruption rampant within all spheres of government we demand accountability and transparency. Monies spent from the public purse must be spent in its full extent to the development of our communities and not for profiteering tenderprenuers and corrupt officials. Either money was not spent, the tender was overpriced or there was a lack of oversight and monitoring done by the city on the services provided. Our country is in dire need of ethical leadership and we hope that those responsible will take harsh measures for any wrongdoing found in the above mentioned issue. What has happened to Lenasia's Sporting Facility funds? https://soundcloud.com/radioislam/what-has-happened-to-lenasias-sporting-facility-funds https://risingsunlenasia.co.za/53264/lenasia-sports-fraternity-arms-sports-facility/ Video Call to Action: https://wp.me/p8PLB1-1w

Karabo Mafolo of the Daily Maverick reports that “In a 2016 report, the LGBTI organisation OUT LGBT Well-being, reported that 51% of transgender people had experienced discrimination in their education life.” This year, there was an mass hysteria about the new curriculum introducing “masturbation” as part of the new Life Orientation curriculum for grade 4 according to a misleading article by Prega Govender in The Sunday Times, 12 May 2019. This sparked the conversation on social media platforms where the concern wasn’t necessarily the introduction of sex and gender education but the level of engagement. More concerning however, is that there is currently no steps being taken to ensure that the very educators of the current and new Life Orientation curriculum are being trained to formally and professionally Gender and Sexuality Studies. The Department has previously displayed a strong capacity to retrain teachers when the CAPS curriculum was introduced in 2011. Met with great reluctance from teachers, Bongani Nkosi of The Star reported that the CAPS curriculum was implemented, reviewed and monitored - meaning the Department of Education is able to introduce gender and sexuality as part of current and future training for firstly Life Orientation teachers, and gradually, a compulsory training program for any teaching qaulification. It is the responsibility of the Department of Education to prioritize Gender and Sexuality to create inclusive, intersectional and informative learning environments starting with the teachers and filtering it down to scholars and the wider community Sources 1. Department of Education (www.education.gov.za) - Director General of Basic Education 2. Bongani Nkosi, The Star, 7 September 2018 3. Prega Govender, The Sunday Times, 12 May 2019 4. Karabo Mafolo, The Daily Maverick, 4 June 2019

Schools are institutions of learning and not only learning about modules placed in curriculum's but also raising and emphasizing the importance of self-discovery and identity. Students need to learn more about themselves as well as their cultures and then teach others about it. When we teach young black girls that their hair has to be changed so they can suit a certain school culture what are we teaching them about themselves and how they were born? Schools should embrace the black culture and not try to change it. Most of these schools implemented their hair policies way before African black children were allowed into the then-White-only schools so they are not very inclusive of the black culture and the way African hair grows.Were the hair policies of schools reviewed after Apartheid and changed to suit everyone's hair needs? Each school can have different policies and school cultures as long as black pupils do not feel like they are being prejudiced against how they look as Africans. Schools need to also enforce educating themselves on African black cultures and how the African hair grows if they continue to enforce hair policies. [1] Pretoria Girls High pupils were victims of racism-MEC, Lizeka Tandwa for News24, 2016/12/03 [2] Gauteng High School embroiled in natural hair scandal, Silindelo Masikane for the eNCA, Monday 11, March, 2019 [3] Several State & Private Schools have bans on Dreadlocks. Afros and braids, Prega Govender for Mail & Gaurdian, 02, September, 2016 [4]School Governing Bodies: Play your part, Department of basic education 2019 [5] Lesufi gives Kempton Park school deadline to change hair policy, Nation Nyoka for News24, 25/07/2017

Between late 2017 and early 2018 our country went down in history for the biggest listeria outbreak in history, affecting over 1000 people and killing almost 300. Many families were robbed of their loved ones by the very thing they work to put on their table- food. Thousands of lives were affected by the decisions of a group of individuals employed by the biggest and most indispensable industry in the universe, its all good and well that the perpetrators are being held accountable for their actions and it is also commendable that they are cooperative and willing to attempt to compensate for the damage caused (though 300 fold irreversible)- my issue is not about corrective action, its in preventative action, the listeria outbreak should have opened our eyes to the fact that the giant that is our food industry is not indestructible, in fact in as much as the industry is one of our greatest assets, it can easily turn into our biggest serial killer, with unsuspecting civilians as its prey and deadly bacteria as its modus operandi- we need to implement not only corrective action but preventative action as well, surely we can't wait until another outbreak or more lives lost before we educate society that listeria is not the only food-related pathogen? That there are a handful of other deadly germs that are waiting for ideal conditions to pounce. I think Africa has always placed so much focus on food availability and food security and I feel that not enough emphasis has been placed on what we should look out for when we finally get our hands on food. We need to educate the general public on what to look out for, how to prepare and store food safely, what to do when they suspect food is unsafe etc to help prevent another negative world record again.