Kwaito heavy weights, Big Nuz and DJ Tira will be amongst the chart toppers that will entertain the crowds at the first National Donate a Schoolbag Campaign (NDSB) fundraising concert on Saturday, 30 January at Umthatha Sports Grounds in Umthatha. Other artists to perform at the event include Dream Team, DJ Zinhle, iFani, Unathi, Zakes Bantwini and more.

The NDSB Campaign is an initiative by a Johannesburg based social entrepreneur and Activator, Xolane Ngobozane. In a bid to improve young people’s lives, Ngobozane, is launching the campaign to help alleviate challenges faced by the South African education system. The NDSB Campaign aims to provide underprivileged learners across South Africa with schoolbags and other basic learning tools. Through this campaign, Ngobozane plans to raise at least more than 100 000 school bags and donate them to more than 100 schools all around the country by June of this year. Each schoolbag will be filled with stationery and other learning resources.

As a member of the ACTIVATE! Change Drivers Network, Ngobozane is committed to his role in youth development and empowerment. ACTIVATE! is a network of young leaders or Activators equipped to drive change for the public good across South Africa. Activators work towards finding innovative ways to transform our communities and the country as a whole by coming up with effective solutions to some of our toughest challenges.

Ngobozane says being part of the ACTIVATE! Network has helped him improve his strategic thinking skills. His company, Viruz Empire Global was established to create opportunities for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds. “The skills and know-how that I learn from ACTIVATE! help me in coming up with proficient ways to run my company and to implement my ideas like the National Donate a School Bag Campaign,” he adds.  

Ngobozane’s reasoning behind the NDSB Campaign goes beyond just buying a bag for a learner. It is a transformational movement. He states that it was heartbreaking to see vulnerable children carrying their books in plastic bags. He found that sometimes they get grounded from school when they don’t have or lost the only pen or writing pad they had for the whole year. Not only do they have to go through this mental trauma, but some of them end up dropping out of school completely and the cycle of poverty regenerates all over again. A majority of these families survive through social grants so the parents can hardly afford to buy basic school materials for their children.

“I took time to make observations and I noticed that lot of learners in townships carry their books in plastic bags because their parents can’t afford to buy them decent schoolbags. As a result, their books are damaged and they lose some of their stationery, which affects their overall performance at school. That is why I decided to establish NDSB,” says Ngobozane.  

To raise funds for the campaign, Ngobozane  will be hosting a series of fundraising concerts in all nine provinces, with the first one to be held on Saturday, 30 January at Umthatha Sports Fields, Eastern Cape. 0n 06 February, the concert will move to Kwazulu Natal (Smart Space, Durban) and Gauteng (OR Tambo Cultural Precinct, Benoni) on the same day, before going to the Western Cape on 02 April. Dates and venues for the rest of the provinces have not been confirmed yet.   

For more information on the NDSB campaign and the fundraising concert or donations, Ngobozane can be contacted 061 377 0745/073 009 2953 or bookings.vee@gmail.com.

For media related queries, please contact:

Nelisa Ngqulana

Communications Manager: ACTIVATE! Change Drivers

Email: nelisa@localhost (cc: communications@localhost)

Cell: 073 817 8017