At the beginning of September we opened up a crowd-sourced challenge to our community to suggest crucial issues, topics or policy ideas that young South Africa would like to represent to government. We’ve been collecting all these burning issues over the last month and entries are now closed. Voting has been intense over the past week but there is still time to vote for the best submission on our Facebook and Google + pages before voting closes on Saturday October 31st.

Meet the five shortlisted entrants and find out why their issue is important to them:

Pontsho Pilane

Pontsho Pilane is a journalist at The Daily Vox, an online news site that centers around young South Africans.  She is passionate about the media, women empowerment and education. She hails from Moruleng, a village 60km away from Rustenburg. The lack of sanitary products in many areas in South Africa, including her village, are affecting the ability for students to girl children to learn. They miss out on many school days due to something that they cannot control – their period. 

If you think her issue is strong enough to take to Parliament then vote for it on our Facebook and Google + page

Vicky Denise Chili

Vicky Denise Chili is a 24 year old woman from Durban, Umlazi who is passionate about youth development, leadership and community development. She is a humanities graduate (Social Worker) who volunteers at King Shaka High School. As the acting chairperson of an organisation called Youth On A Mission (YOAM) she empowers, educates and equips young people by initiating valuable and sustainable youth programmes. Inclusivity in all spheres of life is paramount for all human beings and approximately 2.9 million people with disability need to be catered for in South Africa. Our leaders need to address this issue by first doing needs analyses in communities, improve resources, involve people with disability in community projects and encouraging companies to employ them.

If you think her issue is strong enough to take to Parliament then vote for it on our Facebook and Google + page

Palesa Khumalo

Palesa Khumalo is a Tech Entrepreneur and UX/UI Designer currently living in Johannesburg. She is currently developing a SmartHealth system which will create an automated system to capture patient data accurately and with ease. Currently, the public healthcare system involves long queues and excessive patient paperwork, with patients rushing through long forms in waiting rooms, she believes that this anywhere-anytime accessibility means that a patient’s file can be loaded at any hospital countrywide, cutting down the time and effort otherwise required to create a new file every time the patient visits a new hospital.

If you think her issue is strong enough to take to Parliament then vote for it on our Facebook and Google + page

Anele Wondo

Anele Wondo is a 28 year old woman, originally from EC but has adopted Cape Town as her city, who’s very passionate about human development. She’s an activist who’s worked with with NGOs such as Ithemba Support Group, Treatment Action Campaign, The Social Justice Coalition, Equal Education, Love Life, Educo Africa and currently Activate Change Drivers over the past 11 years. She believes it’s time the police department start building relationships with the communities that they operate in. If we open up dialogues and give people the voice to come up with solutions to problems facing them, then the government can build a better, and more sustainable relationship with citizens.

If you think her issue is strong enough to take to Parliament then vote for it on our Facebook and Google + page

Gcobisa Yani

Gcobisa Yani is a student activist at the University of the Western Cape who just completed her first degree in political science. As an activist she is passionate about social justice and nation building. She has been actively involved in students social movements like #OpenStellenbosch, #StelliesFeesMustFall and the likes where she has challenged the institutional autonomy of the University of the Western Cape, to bring about its public obligation and claimed vision and mission of the institution. Gcobisa is currently a student at Stellenbosch University and strongly believes government needs fast-track transformation in South African universities, putting special emphasis on previously white universities.

If you think her issue is strong enough to take to Parliament then vote for it on our Facebook and Google + page

Terms and Conditions:

1. By entering Parliament Challenge, entrants agree to all the rules set out below.
2. This competition is open to all residents or citizens of South Africa over the age of eighteen (18) years (any persons under the age of eighteen (18) must have their parent/guardian’s permission before entering). However, the following persons are not eligible to enter: directors; employees; advisors; and the immediate family members of these persons (including their spouses, life partners, parents, children, brothers and sisters).
3. The competition runs during the month of October 2015.
4. To participate in the competition and stand a chance to present to MPs and win a nights stay in Cape Town the following needs to be completed:
   1. Submit entry online or to a VIP team member before 19 October 2015.
   2. Be willing for your entry to be modified into a submission fit for presentation to MPs.
   3. Must be available and willing to be coached, mentored and actively take part in preparations (modifying submission and preparing to present the submission) in person, telephonically and/or via Skype (winner must have access to a stable Internet connection and the Skype application), so that he/she is adequately prepared for presenting his/her submission to MPs.
   4. Must be available and able to travel to Cape Town during the month of November 2015 – should the winner not reside in the Western Cape, transport to and from Cape Town will be provided with airport/station transfers provided.
5. Voting opens on 21 October 2015 and the winner will be announced on livemag.co.za on 9 November 2015. The winner will be notified telephonically. Should the initial winner not be reachable telephonically between 2-4 November 2015, another winner will be chosen.
6. There is only one winner who receives the prize.
7. The winner will be required to sign an indemnity form, provide a copy of his/her South African ID book and may be required to provide his/her banking details proof of banking and any other required documents to a representative from Livity Africa. The potential winner is not an actual winner until his/her submission is validated and his/her required documents completed and submitted to Livity Africa. In the event of non-compliance with these terms and conditions by the potential winner, the prize will be forfeited and another winner will be chosen, subject to all conditions herein.
8. Livity Africa, VIP nor Live SA is responsible for the personal safety of the winner or any personal and/or financial loss he/she may incur during his/her travels to and stay in Cape Town.
9. The prize is not transferable.
10. Winners will be required to appear across media including but not limited to television, radio, print publications, and/or online sites to endorse, promote or advertise the Parliament Challenge competition, VIP campaign and Live SA.