Dear South Africa (DearSA) proudly announced its Young Leaders 2024 today at an exclusive event hosted at The Pivot Hotel, Montecasino. The Young Leaders Awards celebrate South Africa's most inspiring young leaders.
The winners were selected through a public vote and a DearSA panel, each weighted at 50%. The public vote was conducted on the DearSA website from 1 February 2024 to 30 April 2024. Each category winner receives a cash prize of R7,500.00. The DearSA Young Leaders initiative identifies, acknowledges, and celebrates the top five young South Africans making tangible, real-world differences in their communities or nationwide across five categories. We proudly announce the winner of each category:
• Politics & Government: Cilliers Brink
• Civil Society: Ian Cameron
• Business: Glenda Setshedi
• Sport, Culture & Environment: Zeenat Isaacs
• Media: Selokela Slu Molamodi
As we look towards building South Africa’s future, there is no greater asset than today's youth. Chloe Castle, CEO of DearSA, says, "We congratulate each winner for making tangible, actual change and for being poised to solve future crises, lead organisations, craft policies, innovate, and preserve or transform democracy and systems of justice. We commend you."
According to Daniël Eloff, one of the directors and a panel judge from DearSA, Dear SA's goal was to recognise and celebrate young South Africans who are making a tangible difference—individuals who are on the ground, actively improving the lives of their fellow citizens.
"As Theodore Roosevelt famously said, "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds." These awards are not for those who merely talk the talk, but for those who walk the walk—the doers of deeds.
"This year, we received over 20,000 unique votes for 125 nominees. Dear SA looks forward to many decades of recognizing the young South Africans who are turning the promises of our constitution into reality."
