“If I could change one thing forever I would change people’s attitudes to certain things. If we started to look at problems more like challenges that we need to overcome, that could give birth to a relentless spirit which would eventually change the world.”

Sizwe Dhlomo
MTV presenter

“If I could change one thing forever it would be the way in which women are viewed and treated. Equity and equality between men and women should not be an optional extra but should be seen as a benefit to all society. It is only when both men and women develop and display their full talents that we can truly attain political, economic and social development in our region, and in Africa as a whole.”

Graça Machel
campaigner for children and women’s rights

“If I could change one thing forever I would ensure that poverty is no longer the hidden story of the media, that we are not surprised by the annual statistics that show half of all South Africans are desperately poor and that the only thing growing at a cracking pace is the Gini coefficient. I would like the Millennium Development Goals (and where we are on that scale of human decency) to be as commonplace a set of indicators as the FTSE, the JSE-Alsi and the rand-dollar exchange rate.”

Ferial Haffajee
editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper