NOKERI ADVANCES HER EQUAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGN

WHEN MISS SA 2022, Ndavi Nokeri, launched her Ed-unite campaign, she aimed to ensure that learners in all corners of the country obtained equal rights to education.

Nokeri has been approaching the campaign holistically, helping across the board where needed to facilitate easier ways of learning.

To mark Human Rights Day, the beauty queen spoke to former Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela.

This conversation marked the start of Constitution Hill’s annual Human Rights Festival (HRF), which was established to commemorate the past and continuing struggles for the fulfilment of human rights in South Africa. This year’s HRF theme was “seize power”.

The event also served as the launch of the Constitution Hill Trust’s “We, the People” brand, which calls on all people to own and live the Constitution through various activities, programmes and campaigns promoting the Constitution, its history, meaning today and importance to us, the people, to build a stronger constitutionally democratic future for generations to come. The discussion was facilitated by radio broadcaster and legal counsel Songezo Mabece, who also serves as an executive assistant and legal researcher to the commissioner.

“Called ‘We, the People in Conversation’, the theme for this Human Rights Day was ‘We, the People Seizing Power to Make the Constitution Real’.”

Nokeri has always been passionate about equal educational opportunities and at her crowning in August, she pledged herself to help ensure an equal playing field for all learners.

“South Africa currently has the highest inequality rates globally. Having been exposed to extreme poverty as a child and thereafter being granted the opportunity to attend advantaged schools, I witnessed the negative effects of the great and unfair divide in this country.

“My mission is to bridge that gap. Fundamentally, every young person should be given the opportunity to cultivate their talents, intelligence, and skills, regardless of their background.

“This will enable us to reduce inequality by tackling the root causes of unemployment in South Africa,” said Nokeri.

“Here is my call to action: I call on corporate South Africa to join me and change the future of as many young people within the educational space as possible.

“Help me help them by providing expertise, equipment or financial assistance. Together, we can close the gap,” she added.

There was also discussion on how to define power, including ways that power could be transformed into making the Constitution real.