Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity (AFRE) announced on 17 March that founding Executive Director Kavitha Mediratta is stepping down in June 2022. Dr Sebabatso Manoeli-Lesame, the current deputy executive director, will take the helm of the organisation upon her departure.
Since 2017, AFRE has brought racial equity leaders together from across South Africa and the U.S., to strengthen their work building toward a world beyond anti-Black racism and white supremacy, one where all Black people and all people of colour can thrive. Guided by Mediratta’s leadership, the organisation has connected and resourced over 60 leaders working in fields as diverse as climate justice, health equity, land rights and education justice. Sebabatso Manoeli-Lesame has been part of the team for many years, leading work on the flagship fellowship that supports leaders to build more expansive visions and more powerful strategies for achieving racial equity. She has also introduced a new stream of work, the Ideate, Design, Experiment, and Accelerate (IDEA) Space, to foster creative, forward-reaching responses to racial equity challenges.