Maditlhare Koena was born in Palmietfontein in South Africa’s Eastern Cape and raised by a single mother working as a domestic worker. Due to economic hardship, she was unable to pursue higher education and moved across regions in search of employment, working in various roles including farm work, community development, and volunteering with the South African Police Service. Her experience as a Community Development Facilitator with World Vision, where she worked with vulnerable households and learned about waste sorting and recycling, sparked her interest in waste picking as both a livelihood and a pathway to community organization.
As Treasurer of IAWP and a leader within the South African Waste Pickers Association (SAWPA), Maditlhare has played a crucial role in organizing waste pickers, particularly women, into collective structures. She led efforts to secure working space from local authorities and helped transition informal street-based work into more stable operations within a Material Recovery Facility. Her leadership includes serving as Provincial Coordinator, National Coordinating Committee member, and communications officer within SAWPA. She has also actively participated in global policy spaces, including the INC negotiations, and continues to strengthen organizational governance, financial oversight, and the collective power of waste pickers.
