Upright African Movement has new leader
“We are a movement and a collective. I look forward to introducing myself to our wellwishers all over Botswana,” says Emmanuel Njang as he replaces founding leader, Donald Molosi.
Question: We know the Upright African Movement as a collective that was founded in 2017 to lobby for curriculum reform in Botswana. Take us through that phase.
Emmanuel Njang: Yes. And it has now grown to have branches and networks around Africa. For example, our manifesto was launched in Tanzania and Kenya in 2018. e goal remains to put African history in the African classroom.
Q: You are the incoming President taking over from Donald Molosi. Who is Emmanuel Njang?
EN: Molosi and I have been working together on the transition.
I am a certi ed Professional Life Coach, Organizational Development Consultant, and a Bcom holder, Speaker and Author. I got to shadow Molosi when he and Zenzo Ngqobe did the 2023 Mo Mtseng campaign to celebrate our home villages. I look forward to focusing on healing and mindfulness as tools to rely on as we decolonize the curriculum.
Q: e Upright African Movement famously lobbied for African children to be allowed to have Afro hair in the classroom in 2017. We saw a TED talk and a manifesto on education reform released in 2018. What will be your approach?
EN: e Rainbow issue and the writing and translation of our mandate into Setswana, those are some of Rre Molosi’s achievements during his term. e UAM mandate, which is advocating for the decolonization and teaching of the African History in the African classroom, connects more with the
work I already do, especially in the area of life coaching, where I advocate for positive change in life as a whole. My approach is shaped by mindfulness and healing. We will also hit the ground running with activism and community engagement.
Q: As President of the Upright African Movement, what will be the focus of your tenure?
EN: My major role and focus will be more on ensuring that we carry on with the work that has been done by our past leadership. is includes the existing relationships that have been built by our past leadership and so on.
My presidency will focus on youth empowerment and youth inclusion in key issues of national interests. We are going to do more advocacy work in the education space, and utilize our global networks to ensure the organization mandate is achieved.
e youth, makes a bigger population in Africa, and as such, we contribute more to the development of this country and this continent too, and our participation in key areas such as voting, is very important to the development we want as young people.
Q: Any last words?
EN: ank you. I look forward to taking our work into the SADC region to expand on the East African branches that already exist. We have a lot of support in Ma keng.