Cape Town — Nomzamo Mbatha, a South African actress and humanitarian, is a powerful advocate for social justice and climate action.
In her role as Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and founder of The Lighthouse Foundation, Mbatha amplifies messages about refugee rights, sustainability, and social equity. Her dedication to empowering marginalized youth and her first-hand experience in refugee camps shows her tireless commitment to humanitarianism. In her recently appointed role as Earthshot Global Ambassador, Mbatha is committed to driving effective action in the fight against climate change, ensuring that solutions are inclusive and beneficial to everyone.
Mbatha caught up with allAfrica's Melody Chironda at Earthshot+ where she was helping to drive bold conversations on sustainability, environmentalism, and innovation. She describes herself as a humanitarian who wears many hats, advocating for women's empowerment, child-headed homes, and displaced brothers and sisters, through the UNHCR agency.
Why is it important for you to be an Earthshot Ambassador?
It's important because I believe in the health of the climate, I believe in the innovation that we have ahead of us, but most importantly I believe in urgent optimism. There's a lot of doom and gloom that's been happening, and for me, it feels like it deters the efforts of those who are doing something about it. So I'm very passionate about the environment, I'm very passionate about climate action, and to be able to be a mouthpiece and to shine a light on the Earthshot Prize and what they are doing in terms of discovering, celebrating, and accelerating bold solutions and bold innovations from around the world is an absolute honor.
What's one of the most moving experiences you've had while doing your humanitarian work?
Goodness, too many, too many moving experiences. I mean, one looks at the work that I do with the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, as a global ambassador, and doing fieldwork in refugee camps across Africa, and understanding the psychology and the heart of the power of the human mind, how it can rebuild and overcome, is something that galvanizes me in my capacity. Meeting finalists who grew up below the breadline, who are now coming up with scalable, innovative, and global and accessible solutions, empowering other people through employment, and impacting their communities, is something that, unless you're close to it, you can never understand that true feeling of inspiration.
Recently, I covered the Sudan conflict and the reports of sexual exploitation. How can the world respond?
The challenges they face, that we need to bring them up? Usually, it's international organizations that bring these issues, not Africans. So how do you work to bring it out? Well, we need to fight. We need to fight in terms of really making sure that we shine a light, number one, but also we have a more focused, robust, intentional, relentless, and consistent voice when it comes to speaking up for the situation in Sudan. It's also not something that's happening on its own. It is a symptom, it is a wound that continues to be there, and for me, it's about shifting that narrative. It's about calling on the diaspora as well.
There are a lot of African people in the diaspora who are quiet about this, so we need to be able to shine a light. We need to be louder about it, and also to hold the government accountable. The leaders have to be accountable for this. It's not happening just on its own, it's happening as a result. So who is behind it? What needs to be done? What kind of change needs to be done? And of course, young people as well. How are you advocating for your own country? How are you holding your leaders accountable? So we need to be able to do that.
You look at the women who are being used as weapons of war. It is one of the most heartbreaking things. I've been at a safety house in a refugee camp in Juba, South Sudan, and met a young woman who was putting ointment on a young boy, and I think he had measles or chickenpox on him. And so in the safe house, I then asked my translator, I said, you know, is that her son? And he said, yes, he's seven years old, and he's the result of a gang rape during conflict.
So we have so far to go, but we must also give the flowers to those who continue to pour into the spirit of African people who are still left behind because of war and conflict. And I always clap my hands, shine a light on, and be loud about philanthropists and multilateral organizations and other governments who are taking in other nationals to support them, to shelter them, to give them asylum. So it's a very complex situation, but we as the diaspora, we as fellow African people, must not be tired. We cannot tire.
Women are often at the forefront of climate adaptation in their communities but face unique challenges and are not included in the decision-making process. So what steps must we take to change this situation?
I'll say this, I'll say that yes, there are certain sectors where women are still left behind, but in the same breath, there are sectors where women are being brought to the table. I have had too many encounters with women, bold women, women who are big people, as Africans like to say, big people in global organizations who are trusted. You know what I mean? And so we need to lean more into those women and find out what those global organizations are getting right so that we can be able to what? Inspire others who are left behind. So we have to be able to look at something in a double lens instead of a single lens. How far we've come, how far we've yet to go.
What has been one of the most rewarding moments in your journey?
Oh my god, probably in my non-profit organization. Graduates every year, I get pictures, I get invites to say "Nomzamo, I've graduated my final year. We started this journey three years ago. You sponsored my bursary" and you know, so that's always very fulfilling. And also the women that we fund as part of our grant, women founders who are impacting communities in South Africa. So that's always a great thing.
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And of course, you then see the global things. I mean, I was just saying the other day that for me it was a proud moment with the Earthshot Prize. When I was sitting on a plane, I didn't know where I was flying to and I was reading Time Magazine and it was a special Time 100 Next. Now we know how coveted that list is. And one face stuck out to me, which was the founder and director of Boomitra. I announced him as a winner last year at the Earthshot Prize in Singapore. So to be paging through Time 100, to seeing him and then reading and seeing Earthshot Prize, I was like, there you go. I'm in the right company.
Can you tell us about the Lighthouse Foundation?
The Lighthouse Foundation has three pillars. It's emergency relief and the restoration of dignity. So we do our back-to-school campaign where we give young school kids, we target about a thousand each year, school uniforms and school supplies. And then we have our women empowerment leg. And that one is very important because we have a grant through fundraising and that grant is disbursed to all the women founders that we highlight, celebrate, and seed into. And then we have our scholarship program, which covers tertiary education level scholarships.
Finally, how do you recharge with all the work you do for change and advocacy?
It's a very simple thing. I put my phone on flight mode and I go hiking or chase a waterfall.
