Twenty young conservationists are ready to work. They need laptops

Cape Town — Twenty newly graduated conservationists began a year-long placement with the Cape Town charity Nature Connect this month, and the organisation is appealing for laptops so they can do the work, Daily Maverick reports.

Nature Connect trains young people for green jobs and supports community conservation projects. It has placed 198 graduate interns since 2016, with stipends funded mainly by CATHSSETA, the sector's training authority. Most of that money goes on transport.

The appeal

• The goal is 20 working laptops, one for each intern.
• They should be in working order, with a charger, and ideally less than three years old.
• The interns need them for research, daily timesheets, monthly logbooks and the portfolios they must complete.
• Donated machines are wiped securely and recorded, and donors can be thanked by name if they wish.
• Laptops can be dropped off at Nature Connect, Unit 3B, Tokai On Main Office Park, 2 Burchell Street, Tokai, Cape Town. The contact address is media@natureconnect.earth.

The charity says buying the laptops itself would take money from its other projects.

Who the interns are

Two of them, Cheynne Williams, a University of the Western Cape graduate, and Tina Msutwana, from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, are working on its sustainable schools programme, helping teachers teach environmental sustainability. Ms Msutwana said she knew little about conservation growing up in the townships, and her interest grew during her studies.

Chief executive Dr Anthony Roberts said South Africa needs more trained conservationists on the ground. The country is one of 17 "megadiverse" nations in the world, but its latest biodiversity assessment found many ecosystems and species under threat.

Source: Daily Maverick, reporting by Lerato Mutsila, 16 October 2026.