Mpilo Ngcukana co-founded 16 on Lerotholi, a unique upmarket art gallery in the heart of Langa. The gallery does much more than providing artists with a place to show their work at home: It uses art to build development, empathy and understanding between the community and its visitors and gives residents a window into the wider art world. It also addresses a long-standing problem: many artists work in Langa, but their work has to leave the community to be seen or valued.

Being rooted in Langa sets the gallery apart and has drawn strong partners. Institutions such as Everard Read and Zeitz MOCAA (the iconic Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town) work with the gallery because, its founders know the community and can help outside organisations arrive with care. Its partnerships now reach beyond art, to the Young Urbanists on streetscapes and urban planning, and the African Centre for Cities on sustainable city building.

The gallery, as attractive as it is, has now outgrown its walls. What began as an art space now also works as a research hub and a community development centre, and the current building can no longer hold all of it.

The team plans to build the property up to three storeys and is already working with architects on the drawings. The new building would house the gallery and a café, plus office space for visiting partners from Cape Town and abroad. It would also offer guest rooms, rented through Airbnb, for visitors who want to stay a weekend or a week in Langa rather than just pass through. Art would stay at its heart.