Just north of Pretoria, a quiet revolution is taking root. In Hammanskraal, the NPO SeedLink ZA is bridging critical skills gaps by weaving together agroecology, conservation, and art. The ARC’s Papi Kubeka and Philip Madiba explain how this grassroots network is empowering youth to build sustainable futures right on the doorstep of Dinokeng. Drive north out of Pretoria along the N1 and, within forty minutes, the city gives way to Hammanskraal, a peri-urban township defined, for too long, by the twin burdens of high youth unemployment and limited economic opportunity. But look closer, and you will find something unexpected: a constellation of community-driven projects that are using soil, bees, paint brushes, and the wild expanse of the Dinokeng Game Reserve to build a genuinely different future. At the centre of this movement sits SeedLink ZA, a non-profit organisation (NPO) founded by three young social entrepreneurs. Their mission is both simple and radical: bridge critical skills gaps in rural and peri-urban communities by weaving together art, agriculture, and nature conservation into a single, coherent programme of empowerment. A network built on community trust In January 2026, a team from the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) made a site visit to Hammanskraal as...

Godiragetse Mogajane started his delivery business four years ago with a few bicycles and WhatsApp near his home in Hammanskraal. Today, his delivery and logistics business operates in townships in fo...

Critical repairs to the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant outside Hammanskraal ground to a halt in 2022, after one of the joint venture partners, CMS Water Engineering, ran out of money. AmaBhungane’

Mayeni JonesAfrica correspondent, Johannesburg & Hammanskraal In the Johannesburg suburb of Greenside, a large group of protesters of all ages and backgrounds are waving placards and banging empty plastic bottles together. "We want water, we want water!" they chant. Northern Johannesburg is known for its plush leafy suburbs. But after years of intermittent water shortages in South Africa, residents say they are fed up. Some have had no running water for over a month. "Our pipes have been bone dry with no water coming through at all," says Colin Regesky, who lives in Green Hill. "It's not very healthy because everyone can get sick with no running water. And also according to the constitution it's our right to have water." Another protester, Jenny Gillies, has lived in Melville for 40 years. "I am here today because it is an actual disgrace," she says. "We are reduced to begging and protesting for water." From 2022 to early 2024, Johannesburg, South Africa's economic hub, suffered crippling electricity shortages, which were managed via a process known as load shedding. Blackouts lasting up to eight hours a day severely disrupted the lives of ordinary South Africans and businesses. Experts blamed a long-standing lack of...