At a time when transgender rights and visibility face growing hostility, South African transgender activist, artist and media personality Yaya Mavundla has been honoured at the 2026 Mail & Guardian Power of Women Awards.
Mavundla won in the Arts, Film & Media category, joining a host of women recognised for their contributions to South African society.
For Mavundla, the award is more than a personal achievement. It affirms that transgender women belong in spaces celebrating women’s leadership and success, while highlighting how many remain excluded.
“This recognition means a great deal to me, but I receive it with a sense of responsibility rather than simply celebration,” said Mavundla.
She added: “For me, before even winning my very first award in 2018, the Feather Award, visibility has never been about being seen for the sake of being seen. It is about what becomes possible when people who have historically been left outside the room are finally allowed to enter, contribute and lead.”
‘Being the First Is Not a Flex’
The Mail & Guardian Power of Women initiative describes itself as an annual celebration of South African women across diverse sectors, recognising individual accomplishment, leadership, peer and public recognition, and a willingness to give back to society.
Mavundla welcomed the recognition but warned against treating individual breakthroughs as evidence of meaningful inclusion.
“Being the first, and being the only one in the room, is not a flex. It is a call for urgency. It should make us ask why it took this long, who is still missing from these spaces, and what we need to change so that the next transgender woman does not have to be the first.”
She added: “The real measure of progress is whether the door stays open behind us, whether institutions actively create space for different women, different communities and different lived experiences to participate and lead.”
Mavundla has long advocated for transgender visibility. Her recent work includes curating Brave Beauties, a Constitution Hill exhibition celebrating transgender women and gender-nonconforming people and hosting events at Global Black Pride in Paris.
‘There Is Room for All of Us’
Addressing debates about transgender inclusion in women’s spaces, Mavundla rejected the idea that recognising transgender women comes at the expense of others.
“I want to be very clear about something: transgender women are not here to take [cisgender] women’s spaces in society. We are not asking women to disappear so that we can exist. We are asking society to understand that there is room for all of us. The struggle for women’s dignity, safety, equality and opportunity should never become a fight between women.”
She hopes her recognition will inspire young transgender South Africans while encouraging institutions to create more opportunities for inclusion.
“I want a young transgender girl somewhere in South Africa to see this moment and understand that the rooms she has been told are not for her can, in fact, become rooms where she belongs.”
Other honourees in the Arts, Film & Media category included filmmaker and social entrepreneur, Molatelo Bossman; Voice of Wits Programme Manager, Lundi Khoisan Cavernelis; founder of Sm-art, Zeenat Isaacs; storyteller, and director of Thope Produxions, Lebo Wa ha Leisa; and producer and creative director, Felicia Naiwa Sithebe.
