By Ntandoyenkosi Nsusha
A young community leader and President of Unity and Interaction Foundation, Lindokuhle Zulu (25) continues to inspire the South Coast youth as he was recently nominated for the top 20 of the 2022 Junior Chamber International (JCI) South Africa’s Best Young Person’s Awards. The JCI South Africa Best Young Person Award goes to an outstanding young person who works hard in empowering their community.
Despite coming from a humbling background, Zulu is well known for his willingness to assist young people with school work and providing motivational speeches that help uplift the Gamalakhe township.
“I come from a poor background, and I was raised by a single parent with the assistance from my grandparents.I lived under harsh conditions of extreme poverty but that has never shifted my intentions of helping humankind where I can. I’m known for being a community builder through an innovation I took in 2016 and 2017 to help learners excel in their Matric studies and this was exposed through an article that was published by a South Coast newspaper in 2017. Through the support from community members whose children benefited from the initiative, my outreach programme started growing,” said Zulu.
The former Olwandle High School learner and Mangosuthu University of Technology, Marketing graduate said he is humbled to be recognised as one the best young people making a difference in the country.
“I’m overwhelmed by the nomination to be part of the Junior Chamber International top 20 Best South African Young Persons Award. I’m also going through to the regional rounds of the Entrepreneur Development in Higher Education(EDHE) inter-varsity student competition, where I will be representing Mangosuthu University of Technology.The JCI top 20 South African Best Young Person’s Awards recognised me through a nomination made by people who have experienced my efforts through community outreach programmes as the award is aimed at recognising a young person who is making an impact in their society,” said Zulu.
Zulu said his relationship with young people inspires him and contributes to his achievements. “My relationship with the youth is amazing and I always advise them to do better for themselves and their communities.I advocate for community outreach programmes and through that I have established an non-profit organisation called ‘Unity and Interaction Foundation’ where I’m the Director and President. With the work of this foundation I have managed to visit more than 30 high schools covering a number of 10 000 learners where I assisted them with career guidance and giving them firsthand experience of university life,” he said.
He said one of his goals is to assist with job creation for the youth. “My future plans are to create an empire of intellectuals where the community will have many graduates that will seek to become job creators rather than job seekers.This ambition is driven by the fact that as the youth we are experiencing a huge rate of unemployment,” said Zulu.
