The Motsepe Foundation, in partnership with the University of Pretoria (UP), will launch the inaugural Universities in Dialogue series at the Future Africa Campus on Tuesday, 20 August.

The theme of the dialogue is "South Africa requires a feminist government to advance gender equity and equality across all sectors of society”, and involves the participation of students from UP and the universities of the Witwatersrand, Cape Town and Free State.

Twenty five years after the advent of democracy, gender equality remains elusive. Although it is protected in the Constitution, women continue to face economic discrimination and violence. While women make up 52% of the population and 55% of registered voters, they continue to be underrepresented and underserved across all sectors of society including universities, businesses, civil society and government. 

The Motsepe Foundation and UP have partnered to not only acknowledge and commemorate some of the gains made to date, but also to engage with the subject of what has still not been achieved and why there appears to be structural and political bottlenecks to achieving the targets that have already been set. The purpose of this initiative is to elevate the voices of young people, to drive policy and share solutions for the problems facing their generation. 

UP has four participants in the debate on Tuesday:

Saphia Essop

Essop is in the final year of her undergraduate degree, majoring in Political Science and International Relations at UP. She has been appointed by UP as a political science tutor, teaching 85 students. She is also a member of the Golden Key International Academic Honours Society.

David Kabwa

Kabwa is the first-ever second-year student to be elected as the SRC President at UP. He is the acting Chair of the Second Commission of the South African Youth Parliament.

Mmane Boikanyo

Boikanyo is passionate about the strategic use of Marketing and Communications. While studying towards her BCom Communication Management degree she submitted a proposal on how she could elevate the brand of former Banyana Banyana captain Amanda Dlamini. This led to her being awarded an internship at P Management, where she managed female football players and received an opportunity to travel to the London 2012 Olympics to market the female athletes to premier soccer league clubs. She secured trials for the athletes at Liverpool Ladies FC and Bristol Academy.

Dr Olebogeng Selebi

Dr Selebi is a government communication expert in the Department of Business Management at UP. She believes in the use of research-based, academically sound, real-world government communication strategies that facilitate economic development. She completed a PhD in Communication Management from UP.

The event will be live-streamed from 17:00 – 19:00 on Tuesday, 20 August.  Click on the link: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThSEcseMVk8&feature=youtu.be