Themba Sivate

Nominee's Province:
Gauteng

Age:
29

Project Name/Description:
1st Response

More info:
https://web.facebook.com/1stResponseEmergencyGroup

Themba Sivate, 29, is a software developer with a flair for using technology to make life a little easy. Sivate, who lives in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, recently launched a ground-breaking app called 1st Response that allows users to easily access critical emergency services. Initially, he wanted the app to help curb the scourge of gender-based violence in South Africa. He wanted the app to ensure that victims could call for police help in stealth. “I asked myself, what will I do if I were a woman and found myself in the situation of GBV?’ I realised that there was no way you could openly use a phone and call the police in front of the person abusing you,” says Sivate. Along the way, he realised that the app needed to include other emergency services such as paramedics, fire fighters, anxiety and depression counsellors. He created the app with a capacity for an accurate GPS so that emergency personnel never get lost when trying to reach their destination, a critical factor in saving endangered lives. The app, which took Sivate a year-and-a-half to build, is revolutionary and timely. “Imagine if you could report gender-based violence without making a phone call, and without leaving your house. Some people, especially introverts, feel more comfortable texting rather than talking. Imagine if you could request for emergency services silently,” he says. The app is available for Windows (Microsoft Store), Android (Play Store) and Huawei Devices (App Gallery) and will soon be available for Mac and iOS (iPhones). Sivate is now working hard to ensure the app is data-free. One of the alluring features of the app is that its map, which Sivate custom-built, doesn’t track users, meaning they won’t suddenly be bombarded with adverts. To build the app, Sivate, who holds a BTech: Engineering Computer Systems from Tshwane University of Technology, had to teach himself a new programming language. “In my experience, I’ve learnt that I’m more likely to learn through building a project. I don’t want to use technology I already know. By the time I finish the project (software), I would have learnt a lot because I got stuck a lot and researched a lot about it.”