PhD Candidate Among Mail&Guardian 200 Young South Africans 2023

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PhD candidate in English Studies at UKZN, Ms Sibusisiwe Manqele, has been named one of the Mail&Guardian’s top 200 young South African visionaries.

The 18^th edition of this annual installation showcases an impressive line-up of young people actively shaping South Africa and playing a pivotal role in fields such as arts and entertainment, civil society, health, technology and innovation, and sports.

Manqele is a television scriptwriter, a sought-after voiceover artist on TV and radio and a theatre practitioner. She has presented papers at local and international conferences and was a keynote speaker at the inaugural annual Gibson Kente Lecture. Manqele has worked on a variety of projects in her field. She was awarded a writing fellowship at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study and received an Andrew Mellon Doctoral Scholarship.

Inspired by the words of John D Rockefeller: ‘If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success,’ Manqele’s multimodal work sets her apart as a visionary in her field.

She said that, growing up, ‘affirmation by my teachers shaped me to be courageous, hardworking, and resilient.’

Her current projects include a documentary film that will create employment opportunities for women and an innovative project on social cohesion in the entertainment industry.

For more information, visit https://mg.co.za/200YoungSouthAfricans/2023/sibusisiwe-gugu-manqele.

Words: Sinoyolo Mahlasela

Photograph: Supplied