The 24 year old’s contributions to the education sector has changed many lives for the better, and she’s using every opportunity to raise the quality of schooling in the hope that these foundational improvements can lead to a more promising future for young South Africans.

Mhlanga was selected to represent the learners of South Africa by the Human Rights Commission and presented a report for the national investigative hearing into the effect of protests on the right to a basic education, which marked the
beginning of her advocacy in earnest. As a result of this report, learners in Limpopo received 20 mobile classrooms to assist learning after protests.

She also collaborated with the department of basic education on a documentary called Schools That Work, which involved traveling to 111 top schools to identify the recipes for their success. The documentary and learning resources were offered to schools that were struggling with academic performance. When Mhlanga completed her matric, she continued to pursue her studies in Business Management and Media. She holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from Regenesys Business School. She also completed a certificate course in Radio production from Wits Radio Academy.

In early 2019, Mhlanga was invited by the basic education department to attend the State of Nation address for her efforts, and to represent the learners in Parliament. She’s currently an ambassador for School Aid, a charity in the United Kingdom and South Africa that distributes educational and extracurricular resources to schools in developing countries. Five libraries have been built in the past year.

Mhlanga is also the Play Your Part ambassador for Brand South Africa, helping amplify the feel-good stories across the country.

Ntsako Mhlanga was recognised as the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans for 2020. In the same year, she became the Head of Communications for one of the biggest NGOs in the STEM industry, Africa Teen Geeks. She has partnered with Eastgate Shopping to build a learner support centre for learners and parents to access.

Ntsako is currently working on a documentary uncovering the June 1976 uprising and also works at the SABC ‘s Channel Africa as a radio presenter.