Tatenda Muponde featured in Mail & Guardian’s 2023 List of 200 Young South Africans
23 June 2023 at 2:35 pm
Each year, the Mail & Guardian newspaper publishes a list of 200 exceptional and notable South Africans under the age of 35 in its “200 Young South Africans” list. This year, the Centre is extremely proud to announce that Tatenda Muponde, an attorney in the CER mining programme, has been chosen to feature among the leading young South Africans featured in the Environmental category of this prestigious list.
Tatenda joined the Centre for Environmental Rights in 2019 as a candidate attorney. She is passionate about social and environmental justice and has devoted her career to fighting for a South Africa in which people enjoy their rights and freedoms as afforded by the Constitution and one in which the environment is protected and preserved for the benefit of both present and future generations. In her interview with the Mail & Guardian, she says, “In the next five years, I want to see South Africa led by vigilant leaders who will not put profit before people and the planet and leaders who are not afraid to make tough decisions for the benefit of the people.”
Tatenda holds an LLB (with distinction) and an LLM in Environmental Law (with distinction) from the University of the Witwatersrand. She was admitted as an attorney in 2021.
Tatenda has been instrumental in the CER’s mining programme work and is one of the leading attorneys in the Mabola matter – a case where 8 civil society organisations are challenging a proposed mine in the Mabola Protected Environment due to the ecological and hydrological importance of the area. Read an opinion piece by Tatenda Muponde and Catherine Horsfield in the Mail and Guardian last month, entitled “SA needs clear law to protect strategic water source areas.”
Tatenda has her own YouTube channel, which focuses on raising awareness on the environment by advocating for environmental and climate justice as well as issues around wellness and finding balance in life for young professionals.
Other CER attorneys who have featured on the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans list over the years include Deputy Director Palesa Madi (2020), Head of the Activist Support and Training Programme Matome Kapa and Head of Corporate Accountability and Transparency Leanne Govindsamy (2019) Executive Director Wandisa Phama (2018), attorneys Christine Reddell and Nicole Loser (2018), Head of Pollution & Climate Change programme Robyn Hugo (2015) and Former Executive Director Melissa Fourie (2007).
Well done Tatenda and to all the young future leaders of South Africa!