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200 Young South African 2016
The Mail & Guardian’s annual feature of eminent 200 Young South Africans
has become a hallmark of our calendar.
It is one of the most popular editions of the M&G, but it has earned significance
far beyond our newsroom. A listing in the 200 Young South Africans supplement
is now a feature of the best CVs in the country.
Every year since 2006, we’ve featured 200 young South Africans, on course to
touch the world with their greatness. It is not an award as much as it is a mark
of distinction — a number of young people featured have since grown into
leaders in their fields. This is a celebration of excellence as much at is a
directory of future leaders.
We begin by inviting nominations from the public, of people between the ages
of 18-35, and we received over 6 000 nominations in 2019.
Bart Willems
In September 2012 Dr Bart Willems swam four and a half laps of the Long Street pool in Cape Town entirely
under water.
When he surfaced, he’d covered a distance of 114m and
broken the South African freediving record. His feat was
made extra special by the fact that he’d recovered from
tuberculosis (TB) just five years earlier. He’d been infected
with the disease in 2007 when he was a medical student
completing his community service.
His experience brought home the risk public health
professionals work under and inspired him to start TB
Proof, an advocacy group, with fellow doctors, one of
whom, Dr Dalene von Delft, survived multidrug-resistant
TB. The group works to “proof ” healthcare workers
against the risk of infection at the work place.
TB Proof also advocates for the development of and
access to novel TB treatments and consults with bodies
such as the World Health Organisation and Centres for
Disease Control about the disease in South Africa.
In 2013 TB Proof was awarded the Centre for Global Health and Diplomacy Award for distinguished work in the field of
global health diplomacy.
As a public health specialist at the Western Cape Health Department, 35-year-old Willems researches simple and complex
solutions for occupational safety in public health centres.
