Malan Jacobs

Unassuming, he is. And extremely intelligent. Who? Malan Jacobs – the 17 year old first recipient of the realsouthafrica Rainbow Award.

Malan, who is only 17 years old, is in Grade 11 at D.F. Malan High in Bellville. In many respects he is a typical teenager. He is a prefect at school and plays hockey and tennis. He takes a keen interest in most school activities.

But there is a difference between him and the average teenager. He takes an interest in much more than that. When he recently read about the newly created website against crime, he immediately logged on and read about it.

He immediately realised the negative effect this site could have on tourism, especially as it was the clearly stated aim of the creator of the site to cripple tourism.

Malan realised immediately this would harm tourism and therefore would cause even more unemployment than the current 26%. Yes, these facts roll off his tongue very easily. He tries to keep informed.

When a spate of racist comments appeared on the site it brought him to tears and he decided to do something about it. He did this by creating his own website and putting things in perspective.

“It is not correct to look at the figures only,” he says. “Many of the figures are misleading and do not truly reflect the situation for foreign visitors. Many of the muders that take place, occur at places like shebeens (legal and otherwise) and seedy night clubs where ordinary tourists would not be seen. It is a matter of interpretation.”

Malan worries abou the large gap between rich and poor and says it invites crime. “This applies to white and black. BEE creates a very rich black group, but it does not always work down to the lower income groups. That is probably the reason why the government gets blamed for the current situation as much as the white group is,” he ventures.

As one radio personality said: “When you see someone like Malan, you know the youth of our country is very able to run South Africa. They have the knowledge and ability.”

Says Pieter Boshoff, founder of realsouthafrica.co.za: “Malan’s grasp of the South African situation is of such a high quality that his site is being used by us to give our readers an overview of crime. He is unbelievably talented and his work is of a very high standard. He interprets logically and he does it with ease. He fully deserves the first Rainbow Award.”

Visit Malan’s website from this link to www.truecrimexpo.co.za

If you know of someone who in your opinion deserves this award, kindly send us a nomination and a motivation of less than 200 words in the comments.

The award does not carry any monetary value. It is just our way of encouraging those people who wish to make a difference in South Africa using their positive attitude. It also shows how other people can strive for the common good.