Sibongile (Bongi) Mkhabela, a social worker by profession and a passionate social activist by orientation, is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF) as well as the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust (NMCH Trust). Presently she is a Trustee and CEO of the newly formed Barloworld Empowerment Foundation (BWEF).

Her first steps as an activist were intuitive rather than political; as a child she recognised and questioned the banal and common indignities that shaped black lives. The young Bongi joined the student resistance as a leader in the Soweto Students Representative Council (SSRC) and the South African Students Movement General Secretary. She was part of the driving force behind the nation-wide June 16, 1976 student revolt which was a turning point in South Africa’s the anti-apartheid struggle.

Bongi was charged with 10 other students for sedition in what became known as the “Soweto 11” Trial. As the only female student charged, she was nicknamed ‘the rose among the thorns’ and imprisoned for two years at a female prison in Kroonstad, in the Free State Province. Six years after the 1976 protests she was finally released in 1982. Time spent in the women’s prison only resolved her commitment to fighting for the dignity of black lives and strengthening the position of African women.

After her release Bongi was served with several banning orders, laws limiting who she could be in contact with and restricting her movements to Zola Township. She made her hometown the epicentre of her activism. Under the auspices of the South African Council of Churches, Bongi was trained by The Legal Resources Centre as a para-legal and founded the Zola Advice Office offering practical, social, and legal advice and assistance to people living under the rule of an oppressive state.

Most recently, she was awarded The Order of Luthuli (Silver) by the President of South Africa, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, on 27 April 2018. The award is in recognition of her fight against apartheid, her continued work in social justice and for her excellent contribution to the well-being of South Africa’s children. She has also awarded an honorary doctorate in Philosophy by the Nelson Mandela University.

In her tenure as CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s fund, Bongi moulded an African organization for social justice, and a critical player in issues affecting children, their families, and communities. The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund founded by Nelson Mandela has a footprint that extends beyond the borders of South Africa and encompasses Southern Africa.

Embracing Nelson Mandela’s mission to change how society treats the African child, in the last decade Sibongile Mkhabela has been on a journey to ensure that the county’s children have access to world-class tertiary healthcare and institutions devoted to their care. She led the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust, R1 billion ($100m) capital campaign behind the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital. Only the second of its kind in Southern African, the Children’s Hospital now provides state-of-the-art tertiary paediatric care and aims to improve the quality of paediatric research and training in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is in this context that she built relationship with the French government and its people. During her tenure at NMCF, the French government hosted South Africa’s children and invited them to address a sitting of parliament. The French government was one of the lead donors and partners during the research phase of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital.

Bongi presents a unique development perspective that incorporates grassroots action working with the Advice Offices and other grassroots initiatives as well as work with organisations with a national and global agenda.

Part of that experience saw her work in senior positions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); serve the first democratically elected government as the Director responsible for programming in the Office of the President with specific reference to civil society-government partnerships as well as overseeing the implementation of The UN Children’s Charter.

A graduate from the University of Zululand, Bongi is also a Joel L. Fleishman Civil Society Policy Fellow at Duke University in North Carolina, USA. She also completed her post-graduate Business Management studies with the University of the Witwatersrand Business School in Johannesburg. In 2017, Mkhabela was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in Italy – a residency offering space to reflect and write about her experiences and the future of social justice movements.

Bongi serves on various boards, including the USA based Global Philanthropy Alliance and she is former Chairperson and current Trustee of Black Sash. She continues to serve on the board of Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital. Bongi recently accepted an invitation to serve on the Firelight Board, California, USA.

Her novel Open Earth and Black Roses recounts the ordinary and extraordinary tales of black families in Apartheid South Africa and she tells her personal experience as a young woman imprisoned, restless and resisting social injustice.

In her current role as Founding Chief Executive Officer of Barloworld Empowerment Foundation – a non-profit organisation that seeks to ignite individual self-belief and unleash community resilience through advocacy and story-telling – during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bongi’s vision is to bring a human face to development work and ultimately creating a sustainable platform for transformational change and sustainable impact through this newly established Foundation.

Pat is the Administrator for Barloworld Empowerment Foundation. She brings with her years of secretarial and administrative experience in both the private, public, and not-for-profit sector.

During her 15-year tenure at Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, Pat took on the role of Trust Manager for Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust that saw the design, construction, and commissioning of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital – Madiba’s last legacy project to provide specialist tertiary care in a world-class facility to the children of Southern Africa. The project was completed in 2016 and was achieved by raising R1 billion through donor funding both locally and internationally during the Trust’s Global Fundraising Campaign.

During her tenure at the City Council of Springs (which was later consolidated into Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality) Pat was part of the team responsible for arranging the first democratic elections and the first municipal elections in South Africa. She played a significant role in the establishment of the new metro at that time and was appointed as Executive Assistant to the first City Manager of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.

In the private sector, Pat was employed by Murray Roberts Roads & Earthworks and in her role as Executive Assistant to the CEO of M&R R&E, Pat assisted the CEO with the group restructuring process after the downturn in the economy at that time.

Pat has a secretarial diploma and has completed courses in Public Relations Management, Project Management and Labour Relations.

Pat is married. She has two children and four grandchildren.

Sanga Magalela is the Marketing and Communications Coordinator for Barloworld Empowerment Foundation (BWEF).

Sanga brings with her a deep devotion to social development and the empowerment of young people in South Africa. Her experience in administration, event coordination, sales and marketing in both the private and
not-for-profit sectors has enabled her to grow from her administration role into Communications and Marketing position within the BWEF.

Sanga was employed by Xpert Decision Systems where she served as both a Training Officer and Accounts Manager it was from here that she left the corporate space to satisfy her burning desire to contribute to the empowerment of the South African youth.

During that pursuit she served in various administrative, facilitation and marketing roles in the not for profit sector. Some of the organisations that Sanga has worked for in the not-for-profit  sector include, Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, African Diaspora Forum, Everything Education, Skilful Space and Seriti but closest to her heart is her work through Greatest Love of All Foundation where she has developed and facilitated programmes that help young people identify their passions, talents and skills while developing a high sense of self love.

Bokang has been the Programme Manager at the Barloworld Empowerment Foundation and has been a community development practitioner for the past 10 years.

Prior to joining the Barloworld Empowerment Foundation, Bokang was the Senior Programme Manager at the Steve Biko Foundation; designing and implementing programmes alongside communities in the sectors of: Arts, Culture and Heritage; Advocacy and Dialogues; Sports Development and Education. Additionally, she supported the resource mobilisation, marketing and communications as well as creating strategic partnerships. Before becoming a fulltime member of staff, Bokang volunteered at the Steve Biko Centre where she designed monitoring and evaluation processes across its various interventions.

Bokang also worked at the British Council as a Project Manager in the areas of Community Development; Basic Education; Further Education and Training; Arts and Culture and the Creative Economy.

Her roles have equipped her with training in Asset Based Community Development, Financial and Budget Management, Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation, Conflict Management and Communications.

Bokang is an alumna of the US Embassy’s International Visitors Leadership Programme for emerging leaders in the Non-Profit and Social Entrepreneurship Sector. The programme solidified the importance of developing sustainable communities for the benefit of the individual and society.

Dineo is a qualified Professional Accountant (SA), Commissioner of Oaths and a member of the South African Institute of Professional Accountant (SAIPA).

She has an outstanding and broad knowledge of Accounting, Taxation, Audit, Payroll, Management and Finances. She brings to BWEF extensive experience(s), having worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) at various client levels, as well as the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital.