Precious Motsepe

"Creating a culture of ambitious and strong-willed women requires solidarity among women, and especially the inclusion of men. From my childhood experiences I recognise that our existence is interdependent."

"African consumers are now recognising their own designers are as valuable any of the brands they buy globally,""

"as a young girl I always enjoyed the feel and look of clothing. Growing up in Soweto, you socialised at weddings and church – those were times when you could shine and put on your best outfit and I enjoyed that. I couldn’t sew to save my life at school, but when playing with dolls with my siblings and cousins, I had the fashion sense, in terms of knowing what looked good on the dolls. And the passion grew from there. So going into the fashion industry was an easy transition for me, because I felt I could make a difference by investing in the growth of industries that define who we are as a nation. The fashion and arts industry is important in that regard, as well as the way it employs thousands of people, such as fabric makers, seamstresses and beaders”."

"I never agonised about not practising medicine. I believe you need to find things that you enjoy doing and explore them to the fullest, but don't get stuck with them. I don't believe in this myopic view of our careers, where you have to study something and then you have to work in that career for the next 50 years. It's like buying an expensive hammer and for the rest of your life you've got to be hammering in nails. I really don't believe that. I think medicine, in many ways, prepared me for many other things that I could do. Passion, hard work, honesty and respect for others is something I carry with me wherever I go. I hope that in 10 years' time I will go into something else. I believe in reinventing myself as a human being. There are people who want to stay in a career and explore it to the maximum, but I like change."

"Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us."

"Change, and advocacy, by men and women begins within our immediate household and workplace environments. Patriarchy creates emotional scars that can only be healed through constructive dialogue."

"What is needed is political will—men and women who are sensitive to and committed to promoting gender equality for the overall benefit of society.""

"Empowering women must include men"

"It's an important cultural moment, recognition of black excellence and talent from Africa"

"I believe that strategic investment in women and girls will ensure we address the most pressing issues that face women today. Addressing women’s issues is part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Maverick’s impact will extend toward closing gender parity gaps"

"We remember and honour all those who have worked and suffered for the realisation of these rights and reaffirm our individual and collective commitment to work for a world where everyone is truly free"

"These technologies hold immense potential, not least for better inclusion, but they can also be disruptive, and could potentially put jobs at risk"

"The longer we wait, the greater the future costs are likely to be. On the other hand, there are opportunities in moving quickly now, and universities can play a catalytic research role in this area"

"Interacting with these themes, shaping them and being shaped by them, I feel there is a growing global sense that We need to put values and ethics back into how we think about our economic system, and how we understand the institutions that form part of them"

"is the potential synergies between these trends, the way they can positively reinforce one another, that really excites me, and makes me hopeful that we can recover lost ground and accelerate towards achieving the ever-elusive Sustainable Development Goals, and the overarching goal of a better and more sustainable future for all"

"As chancellor I would like to see the University of Cape Town grow even further as an inclusive centre of excellence, embedded in the society around us, nurturing compassionate citizens and helping to prepare Africa take its rightful place in a technology-oriented world"

"I want to pose this as the challenge for all of us, and for this university: to bring to all the challenges we face, and will face, the same sense of compassionate urgency that we saw during the fire, and that we have seen in those helping the poor and vulnerable during the [COVID-19] pandemic"