BrandSouthAfrica.com

On the eve of Heritage Month, the International Marketing Council of South Africa (IMC), custodians of Brand South Africa, celebrates six astonishing people who are making a difference in South Africa.

Yvonne Johnston, the CEO of the IMC describes the six as "ordinary people, who have become true heroes through their extraordinary actions." 

"South African people, through their collective values and personality, are our biggest form of heritage and these six heroes best epitomise the Brand South Africa values of ubuntu, can-do attitude and caring strength." she adds.

As part of the celebrations at the Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg, the IMC launched made-for-television vignettes of the six.  Johnston describes the vignettes as "inspirational, motivating and encapsulating the spirit of possibility within South Africa".

These are the six heroes and their stories:

• Thembi Nkambule.    Thembi heads up the Masisizane Women's Housing Services Co-operative. She and her hard-working band of unemployed women used to save their bread money every week, buy bricks and build houses for themselves. When they had built their first 20 houses, the government stepped in, trained them and gave them a brick-making machine. With gifts which came to them via a German TV station's viewers, they have now completed 300 houses in Ivory Park Informal Settlement - proud testament to their unflinching belief in a better tomorrow.
• Sister Corine.   With her firm belief in God and a series of miracles, Sister Corine opened the world's first AIDS hospice in Roodepoort. She notes some of the miracles: moving from nursing to the ministry, getting a house for the first AIDS sufferers, getting food when there was no money, to getting her rates and taxes paid, and getting a bond when there was no money. She replaces fear and hopelessness with dignity and cheerfulness, thereby giving her patients a feeling that their plight is not a death sentence but a challenge which can be overcome through medication, a joyful spirit and prayer.
• Vusi Ndhlovu.    Vusi is living proof that in South Africa there is always a way. He went from convicted car thief to successful businessman. He completed his schooling in jail, paid attention to the teachings of the criminal rehabilitation programmes and on his release decided to re-open the family business, which now realises an annual turnover of R1.2 million. He certainly made use of his second chance in life.
• Dianne Lang.     Dianne's mission in life is to make a difference to the suffering of others. When her children left home, psychologist Dianne moved to one of the most destitute communities in the country and opened a home for abused, abandoned and HIV-positive children. In her Children's Home she now caters for up to 60 children 24 hours a day and feeds in excess of a further 100. She fights against their emotional stress and the accompanying victim mentality. She and a group of volunteers have changed the day-to-day lives of these children but she has also managed to change their perceptions from one of impending death to one of life. She is living testimony to the spirit of Ubuntu.
• Justice Bekebeke.   Justice did what South Africa did - he set himself free. He went from being condemned murderer to heading an electoral office in the Northern Cape under the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and to observe the US presidential elections in 2004. His guiding light was Anton Lubowski, who was later assassinated. Justice says that he never saw Anton as white or an Afrikaner. He was their comrade. When his death sentence was commuted and he left jail, Justice vowed to be like Anton, a lawyer who makes a difference. He still lives by the creed he enunciated just before his sentencing, seeking justice for all humanity and looking beyond racial divides.
• Dr Paseka Ncholo.  He has taught us all that forgiveness is the only way forward. When his younger brother was brutally killed, Paseka consciously decided to reach out to the family of the murderer. He rejected revenge and took over financial and medical responsibility of the perpetrator's HIV-positive parents and the education of his two young siblings.  A lawyer by training, Paseka is now a successful and very active businessman, who personifies the spirit of Nelson Mandela in rebuilding the country through forgiveness and the upliftment of others.

ENDS

For more information on these ordinary South Africans living extraordinary lives, visit www.southafrica.info

Issued by:                   Meropa Communications

On behalf of:              The International Marketing Council of South Africa (IMC)

                                    Tumelo Kumalo: (011) 483 0122/ 084 962 5829,