Seeing poverty and suffering is enough to make Sizwe Kupelo cry — but also act.
His passion for children and his determination to help the underprivileged spurred him to start a rural charity foundation which has been responsible for numerous initiatives.
The seasoned Eastern Cape health department spokesperson’s generous spirit has earned him the nickname “Father Christmas of the underprivileged”.
He draws motivation from the work carried out by his Sizwe Kupelo Foundation (SKF), which focuses on distressed children, women and the disabled.
“Children have so much to offer in this world and deserve to be given a chance. I cannot stand poverty.
“When I see a struggling person I find myself crying — I like to share.
“The foundation was established out of a need to make timely interventions to assist communities and parents, with a special focus on children from needy backgrounds who require specialist healthcare.”
Ngqeleni’s Mqwangqweni Junior Secondary School teacher Lali Kota nominated Kupelo and his foundation for Local Heroes.
“On July 18 2022, as part of Nelson Mandela Day, the foundation handed over a three-bedroom home for three vulnerable boys who were living alone in a borrowed home.
“The eldest child was 13. My colleagues and I noticed a drastic academic improvement in all the children after they got their new home,” Kota said.
In June 2023, the foundation and its partners intervened in Majola village in Port St Johns by deploying 22 social workers to assist victims affected by the 60-year-old faction wars, providing blankets and clothes to those left homeless after their homes were burnt down.
Kupelo driven to keep giving back
Official’s foundation has been making life better for underprivileged since 2008
Image: SUPPLIED
Seeing poverty and suffering is enough to make Sizwe Kupelo cry — but also act.
His passion for children and his determination to help the underprivileged spurred him to start a rural charity foundation which has been responsible for numerous initiatives.
The seasoned Eastern Cape health department spokesperson’s generous spirit has earned him the nickname “Father Christmas of the underprivileged”.
He draws motivation from the work carried out by his Sizwe Kupelo Foundation (SKF), which focuses on distressed children, women and the disabled.
“Children have so much to offer in this world and deserve to be given a chance. I cannot stand poverty.
“When I see a struggling person I find myself crying — I like to share.
“The foundation was established out of a need to make timely interventions to assist communities and parents, with a special focus on children from needy backgrounds who require specialist healthcare.”
Ngqeleni’s Mqwangqweni Junior Secondary School teacher Lali Kota nominated Kupelo and his foundation for Local Heroes.
“On July 18 2022, as part of Nelson Mandela Day, the foundation handed over a three-bedroom home for three vulnerable boys who were living alone in a borrowed home.
“The eldest child was 13. My colleagues and I noticed a drastic academic improvement in all the children after they got their new home,” Kota said.
In June 2023, the foundation and its partners intervened in Majola village in Port St Johns by deploying 22 social workers to assist victims affected by the 60-year-old faction wars, providing blankets and clothes to those left homeless after their homes were burnt down.
Youngsters do battle — on the sports field — in troubled Majola
On Youth Day, the foundation launched the Phants’iintonga Sports Tournament, a peace initiative aimed at stopping the fighting in Majola.
Twenty-six netball and soccer teams took part, and six received trophies and kit.
In 2020, the SKF built two houses in Nqanqarhu and Majola, and assisted children with uniforms, bursaries and tablets.
In 2022, concerned about the number of people dying in pit bull attacks, the foundation launched an online petition against the dogs which attracted 139,000 signatures. Nearly a million South Africans viewed or shared the petition.
“This has prompted the national government to conduct scientific research on the breed’s aggressiveness and review the Animal Matters Amendment Act of 1993,” Kupelo said.
Kupelo’s decision to establish SKF was prompted by what he had witnessed as a government official and while growing up in Mkhankatho village, Libode.
“I’d often come across heartbreaking situations that involved children who suffered from life-threatening illnesses needing urgent assistance which was not readily available.
“Since 2008, we have assisted about 30,000 children with a plethora of needs.
“We’ve hosted Christmas and birthday parties, provided tertiary education bursaries, built homes, bought school uniforms and shoes, and encouraged sports development.
“We’ve also launched peace initiatives and arbitrated in factional conflicts like Majola.”
He secured R660,000 from a construction company for the re-gravelling of a 4km road to connect six villages to St Barnabas Hospital in Libode.
Kupelo’s desire to create change was jump-started in 2008 when he received R5,000 from the provincial government’s excellence incentive scheme, and used it to host a Christmas party for 70 preschoolers.
“After seeing the joy on the children’s faces and the gratitude of the community, I knew it could not be a one-off.”
In 2022, Kupelo, a farmer and former journalist, was awarded an honorary PhD by the Trinity International Bible University in partnership with the Council of Churches International in recognition of his humanitarian work.
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