- A young Eastern Cape man is on a mission to shape pupils into future leaders.
- Nearly 500 pupils, mostly from poor township schools, benefit from his foundation.
- Andile Mbuqu dreams of establishing a school to groom the next generation.
A product of former US president Barack Obama's Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is using skills acquired in the programme to train underprivileged Eastern Cape high school pupils to become leaders of tomorrow.
Andile Mbuqu, 26, from Gqeberha's Motherwell township, is the CEO and founder of the Phuhlis'Imfundo Foundation, which tutors 480 pupils from 15 schools.
He established the foundation in 2018, the same year he graduated from the YALI programme.
He was among 100 fortunate youths from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), drawn from 1 200 applications, to attend the prestigious programme.
Born in 1995, a year after South Africa became a democratic country, Mbuqu displayed a passion for education early in his life.
Mbuqu said:
"The learners we work with come from various public schools and a few private schools. Ours is not to teach, but to assist what the learners have already been taught in classes, trying to make them understand better," said Mbuqu.
Mbuqu said he also infuses his lessons with leadership skills.
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His foundation has 18 tutors, who mentor pupils from Grade 8 to 12.
Mbuqu previously served in leadership structures of the African Youth Commission. He is currently a member of the International Youth Parliament.
He started his early education at Dumani Primary School, before matriculating from Masiphathisane Secondary School in 2013. Both schools are situated in Gqeberha's largest township, Motherwell.
He graduated with qualifications in civil engineering and building construction from Port Elizabeth's TVET College.
The young man dreams of opening a technologically advanced school.
To see pupils succeeding in life is the driving force behind Mbuqu's idea of opening a school.
"I want to make [a] change in their lives. The pupils come from poor backgrounds, where their birthdays are not celebrated, or girls do not have sanitary towels," he said.
"I aspire to become a principal before the age of 35. It's where the youth stage ends.
"[I hope] to open my own academy and to run it with different systems or different teaching methods and employ young people in the academy to take in fresh teaching styles and ideas and make a strong use of technology."