— Sipho Kings McDermott

Dlamini was a solid footballer when she began her studies at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in 2007, but she was there for the academics. Joining the UJ ladies’ team was a fringe benefit. Nonetheless, the striker was soon firing in goals at such a rate that national selectors came looking. Dlamini was drafted into the national setup and debuted in green and gold that July against Nigeria.

In 2010 Dlamini was nominated for the South African Football Association’s Women’s Player of the Year award and finished as top goal-scorer at the African Women’s Championship. Despite her reputation as a sharpshooter in front of the posts, Dlamini calls her biggest asset “the ability to motivate the players around me”. Management must have agreed, as they gave her the captain’s armband in late 2010.

In July 2011, and freshly reborn as an attacking midfielder, Dlamini repaid that faith and led Banyana to a 4-1 aggregate victory over Ethiopia, and with that the right to attend the 2012 Games in London. “For those last few minutes of the game we knew we had done it,” she recalls. “When the whistle went, it was the best feeling ever.”

Tours to Brazil and Cyprus have given the skipper a feel for the sort of opposition they’ll face in London. “They will be very physical and really disciplined,” she says. “But our biggest asset is our flair, which makes us unpredictable. We can cause a surprise.”

— Ian Macleod

— Ian Macleod

Her rise to the top has been meteoric since becoming an MP in 2009. A few months before her appointment, Ndabeni surprised many when she called for the ANC-proposed media appeals tribunal to be placed on Parliament’s agenda, despite assurances by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe that the idea was on ice, pending an industry review of self-regulation mechanisms.

The 34-year-old is also one of those who would like to see changes to the South African Constitution. Asked what she would change in South Africa if she were president: “The Constitution of this country as it stands is not conducive to the ordinary people of South Africa,” she responded.

Ndabeni, who hails from Mthatha, highlights the need to improve the rolling out of information and communications technology (ICT) connectivity to schools, rural development and health centres to ensure sufficient e-government services, among some of her challenges. She acknowledges that ICT access, services and benefits are “still a dream” for people who live in rural areas. However, “many studies have shown that ,in order for South Africa to be globally competitive and more effective as an efficiency-driven country, we need to improve rolling out of ICT connectivity”. On the personal front, Ndabeni is “finally doing her MBA and planning to settle down this year”.

— Andisiwe Makinana

— Lu Larche

— Zeenat Mahomed

Surviving on “chocolate, condensed milk and good friends”, Wheeler spent hours at a time over a whole year, starting in April 2004, out in the snow and wind observing the resident seals, king penguins and wandering albatrosses.

Her goal was to assess how scientific visits to the island were impacting on the lives of its seabird and seal populations. Completing her dissertation in 2009, Wheeler concluded that human activities were causing the creatures significant stress and prompted important regulatory changes in a place she calls paradise. She has since presented her findings as far afield as Scotland and Tasmania.

That doctoral adventure also sparked a personal tradition Wheeler has continued on later voyages. The daring biologist has now swum in some of the world’s chilliest waters, ranging from Marion Island to Scandinavia’s Barents Sea in the Arctic Circle.

Wheeler has also worked with M2 Environmental Connections, for which she consulted on the environmental impact of mining and industry. Forays into the growing arena in which biology and computers merge, especially while working for the South African Butterfly Conservation Assessment, have given Wheeler experience with a range of geographic information systems.

Most recently Wheeler has worked for the Endangered Wildlife Trust, where she found a new passion for teaching. Running the organisation’s Conservation Leadership Programme, or what she calls “the people programme”, she made it her mission to “leave a legacy of conservation leaders for the future”.

— Ian Macleod

In 2007, after building houses through Habitat for Humanity, Sisulu and his friends found themselves wanting to do more. In formalising their growing volunteer “movement”, Sisulu created Cheesekids as a fun, accessible political platform for youth to give back. With the tagline “Love, peace and mo’ cheese”, Cheesekids enables like-minded, privileged youth (those who have “cheese”) to pay it forward to those less fortunate through a range of programmes, from painting classrooms, building houses and cleaning gardens to spending time with children who “need love”. And Sisulu’s approach — making community service “cool” — is working: of Cheesekids’ 8500 member volunteers, half come back to help. And they bring friends.

Putting his postgraduate diplomas in management and business administration from the Gordon Institute of Business Science and his experience as a business incubator to good use, Sisulu is making even “mo’ cheese”. By providing a platform for corporate social responsibility programmes, he’s turning Cheesekids into a sustainable model and an incubator for projects members wish to activate.

Sisulu also hosts regular late-night talk shows on 702, writes columns for Destiny Man and has just published his first book, Becoming. In it, he suggests what he would like to see happen in South Africa and how we can achieve the great things it is known for; the things his family fought for.

— Lu Larche

For a man who reckons he hardly made a decision for himself until he was 25, he made an awfully big one in late 2011. Surprised by the vastness of the struggling mobile communications company MXit, he put together funding in excess of R500- million and bought the business from Herman Heunis and Naspers.

He admits being one of the many who thought the platform was dead just months before, but there were fundamentals about MXit that sparked the chartered accountant’s interest. “We offer users anonymity and quality content,” he says, “while Google needs all kinds of personal information and relies on advertising revenue”. With a reported 10-million active users alone in South Africa and the capacity to run the system on almost any cellphone, MXit proved an attractive offer.

Knott-Craig Jr’s ideas for the business extend way beyond its current focus of mobile chat. Using the idyllic hub of Stellenbosch as an incubator, MXit is experimenting with applications ranging from mobile payments on cellphones to games and music downloads.

But what gives the 35-year-old the grit to play in this high-risk arena, and enjoy it to boot? He reckons dealing with allegations that he wrongly benefited from deals with Vodacom several years ago, while his father was CEO, was one of the best things that ever happened to him. “It hurt at the time,” he says, “but once you’ve gone through it, it gives you armour-plating.” Currently writing a book on MXit’s history, Mobinomics, where does Knott-Craig Jr see the business going in the next few years? “Years?” he responds, quizzically.

— Ian Macleod

When not lecturing, Gillespie can be found researching topical issues in interesting places such as criminal courtrooms, prisons and feminist organisations, a skill that secured her a Friedel Sellschop Award for outstanding young researcher in 2010. Passionate about creating a space for critical engagement, Gillespie co-founded the Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism, hoping to shift the idea that high theory is produced

in the northern hemisphere and merely applied in the South. We can’t wait for her thoughts on how criminal justice interfaces with social justice in South Africa, which is the subject of her first book.

— Cat Pritchard

The Comics Choice award-winner in 2011, 34-year-old Moosa is affectionately known as the “comedy doctor”. Moosa is a qualified medical doctor but admittedly dispenses more laughter than medicine, saying that the only medical advice he can offer nowadays is: “Go see a doctor.”

As a Muslim comedian, Moosa often touches on post-9/11 Islamaphobia and chooses not to use profanity and explicit vocabulary, making his shows accessible to the whole family. He is proud husband and hands-on father, and some of his comic material is inspired by his family.

Of late, Moosa’s career has shifted towards acting. His movie Material took seven years to conceptualise and complete and will forever be known as the movie that made critic Barry Ronge cry. In the movie Moosa plays Cassim, a young man who wants to be a comedian but his father disapproves. This is one instance where Moosa didn’t relate to his character, as his family have always been supportive of his career choices. Continuing in this more serious vein, Moosa recently accepted the role of Ahmed Kathrada, a former South African politician and political prisoner, in the movie adaptation of Nelson Mandela’s book Long Walk to Freedom.

— Zeenat Mahomed

— Ian Macleod

— Ian Macleod

— Nickolaus Bauer

— Ian Macleod

— Lu Larche

— Cat Pritchard

— Ian Macleod

— Ian Macleod

Fast forward five years and Du Preez is playing for the Proteas’ women’s side after being called in as a replacement for injured captain Shandre Fritz in the washed-out fifth ODI against Pakistan in January 2007.

Impressing selectors with her fine stroke play and cool temperament in the middle, she quickly became a mainstay in the side. It was natural progression that led the lithe blonde to be named team captain four years later in 2011, at only 21. A true patriot, Du Preez admits she still gets goosebumps when she slides into her cricket gear each time she prepares for the honour of leading the national team on to the field of play. The year 2012 will be a busy one for the young skipper as she leads her charges in the International Cricket Council Women’s World Twenty20.

To many it would be easy to boast about these achievements at such a young as age, but not Du Preez. To her the difference between hero and zero is a fine line and she’s always looking for ways to improve her talents.

“Always be aware of your talents and areas where you can improve. Everything comes down to making decisions. And with experience comes the ability to make the right decision within a split second and in tough times I decided to use my stumbling blocks as stepping stones to better myself.”

— Nickolaus Bauer

— Ian Macleod

In the end Sifiso Myeni switched off his phone for three days and emerged with a decision. The Wits FC midfielder and captain would move to Orlando Pirates on a three-year deal.

Myeni had joined the “Clever Boys” at Wits for the 2008/09 season. Over the next three years, the rocket-footed Myeni became a Nedbank Cup winner in 2010, took Midfielder of the Tournament at the 2011 Telkom Knockout — giving the entire R100 000 prize to his mom — and represented South Africa at the under-20 level.

Renowned for his turf-churning pace, Myeni’s shimmies and waltzlike turns on the ball induce chills in opposition dugouts. More important is his dexterity with both feet. “I trained my left foot so hard, people don’t know I’m right-footed,” he says. “It gives defenders a lot to think about.”

He’s quick to add that football is also a game of intelligence. He says he needs to improve his positional play, learning to mark more effectively and track back to help in defence.

Myeni made his debut in national colours last year against Tanzania. The goal that resulted from one of his corner kicks was a massive high, but he downplays the importance. “I don’t want to relax,” he explains, “so I try to treat it as nothing.”

While hoping to prove a wise investment for the Buccaneers, 23-year-old Myeni is now eyeing further Bafana success at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations and Brazil’s 2014 World Cup.

— Ian Macleod