​Last Friday, 25th November 2022, the Department hosted the 365 Men of the Year Awards, in honour of about 20 men who do extra ordinary work in the communities. 
These annual awards recognise men in projects that seek to benefit their different communities either through job creation, prevention of gender-based violence, dealing with social ills and poverty alleviation programs. 

Speaking during the awards ceremony, at Johannesburg Market Theatre, Gauteng Social Development, Agriculture, Rural and Environment, MEC Mbali Hlophe, said honouring legends who also graced the occasion was a challenge to men to have inter-generational dialogues. These inter-generational dialogues are important so that we understand the scars that we are dealing with today and where they come from. 

Hlophe added that these dialogues should unlock what determines a behaviour or influence a behaviour. We need to address the seed”. 

She said, “However, today we are here to celebrate male individuals who inspire to break the cycle. The statistic shows that most service users are men, men commit suicide more and the gender-based violence numbers demonstrate that most perpetrators are males”.

Renowned soccer legend Ephraim ‘Jomo’ Sono, who at the age of 17 lost his father and was taken care of by his blind grandfather, said, his then condition forced him to grow quickly, and he had to grab the opportunity to play football abroad. 

“I just needed a break which I grabbed with both hands” Sono added that the youth of today have it easy because conditions are not as harsh as they were before democracy, and they don’t have to manoeuvre stumbling blocks such as apartheid to achieve their goals in life. The awards in which the public chooses the nominees were started in 2015 to transform men into positive role models.