ASIVE DLANJWA

Youth in Education

Nominee's Province:
Free State

Age:

Project Name/Description:

More info:

Some people’s purpose is revealed during times of crises. Asive Dlanjwa fits into this category. When the Libode-born activist settled into a formerly white-male residence of the University of the Free State, nobody would have guessed that he was stepping on a spark that would ignite his life purpose. He says it himself: “What drew me into activism at the university must have been my experience in the residence I lived in.” When the then-student realised the culture of exclusion and racism, his hunger to challenge the status quo was violently stirred. What followed would be a life of activism that would take him to different platforms. These include spearheading the Fees Must Fall movement in his second year in 2016 and eventually being elected the university’s SRC president in 2017. His activism would also open other doors for Dlanjwa. He is a youth coordinator for the Free State Premier's Office, the national spokesperson for the South African Union of Students and the deputy secretary-general of the South African Students Congress. The 28-year-old says his movement has done well in expanding educational possibilities across the country. He does believe that a good litmus test for determining if increasing access has been effective is how well the product lives up to the expectations and goals of an educated society. “That is what is missing with our education system. We have measured the success of it through its massification, but the character and content of that massification is incongruously tagging behind,” states Dlanjwa.