Reimagining Black Fatherhood in South Africa

Fatherhood in South Africa is undergoing profound transformation, but the narratives around it often remain trapped in stereotypes of absence and detachment. According to SOSAF 2024, only 35.6% of South African children live with their biological fathers, while 40.3% live with men who are not their biological fathers. This underscores the critical role of social fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and mentors who step into fathering roles regardless of biology. Recognising this dynamic is essential for crafting responses that are inclusive, culturally relevant, and sustainable.

At Black Dads Unplugged, we understand fatherhood from both sides: as children shaped by parents and communities, and now as fathers raising the next generation. Our work goes beyond our own children, and it is about showing up in the broader community. The idea of social fathers may sound new in sociological language, but it has always existed in African cultures, where communal life meant children belonged to everyone and all adults shared responsibility. The urgent question is: what eroded this practice? How did collective care give way to isolation and absence?

Our vision is simple: empowered, emotionally well, confident, and active fathers. Transformation begins with intentional choices to foster genuine connections with the children in our care. Our mission is not merely to define fatherhood, but to create spaces where Black fathers can show up unapologetically for themselves, each other, and their children with authenticity and agency. South Africa’s struggles with inequality, mental health, and gender-based violence are layered over the absence, or invisibility, of active fatherhood. As SOSAF notes, engaged caregiving, especially from social fathers, can shape children’s self-worth, reduce risky behaviours, and provide essential emotional anchors. Yet nearly 70% of children grow up without their father in the home. Black Dads Unplugged seeks to amplify the voices of fathers present and active, mainstreaming the message that “active fatherhood is the new Black.”

Community Engagement

We bring our work to communities through media, partnerships, and in-person events. Father-led gatherings, storytelling sessions, and community dialogues spotlight active fatherhood in real time while archiving our efforts through features in The African Reporter, The Citizen, and internationally, the BBC. Sessions, typically two hours, include facilitated discussions, film screenings, media analysis, and team-building exercises, all designed to help fathers cultivate bonds reflecting the broader African definition of fatherhood. Participants also receive merchandise and reflective materials, reinforcing our message beyond the session.

Fatherhood Preparation Workshops

Our four-part workshop series, run in collaboration with Ekurhuleni East College and YMCA, focuses on nurturing fathers as caregivers, not just financial providers. Facilitator Simiso Ndimande helps fathers explore topics including active parenting, mental health, communication, and financial empowerment. These practical and emotional skills help fathers navigate the challenges highlighted in SOSAF while fostering deeper engagement with their children and communities.

Digital Platforms & Podcasts

To amplify impact, we produce podcasts and digital content that centre fatherhood narratives absent from mainstream media. These platforms document diverse experiences: single fathers, stepfathers, mentors, and everyday caregiving realities. One tension we notice is the obsession with “role models.” Many fathers ask, “How can I be a good father when I never had one to show me?” Our answer is radical yet simple: model your life according to the role you want to play. You do not need to replicate someone else’s script. Agency begins when men define fatherhood on their own terms, unlocking self-confidence and affirming that we are not passive inheritors of absence but active authors of presence.

Toward a New Narrative

Our vision is clear: when fathers are empowered and mentally well, they show up for themselves and their children. When communities support fathers, families thrive. It is time to move beyond the absent father narrative and invest in the present, engaged, and loving fathers shaping South Africa’s future. Black Dads Unplugged holds space for fathers to share, learn, and act, showing that engaged fatherhood is not an exception but an emerging norm.

On 4 October 2025, we hosted a Community Engagement Session and Fatherhood Preparation Workshop in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. The event served as a living example of what it means to rebuild, reconnect, and reimagine fatherhood in practice. These gatherings proved to be catalysts for healing generational gaps, cultivating social fathers, and affirming that African fatherhood, rooted in communal care, is far from lost.

The question is no longer whether fathers matter, as we know they do. The question is how South Africa can create conditions for fathers to matter more. This requires policy shifts, community investment, and cultural imagination. It requires men daring to father differently, even without past role models, learning, doing, and becoming the models themselves.

We invite policymakers, civil society, educators, and communities to join us. Support initiatives that expand spaces for engaged fatherhood; challenge stereotypes that trap men in absence or silence; and recognise the work of social fathers holding families together. Black Dads Unplugged is not a solution in isolation, but part of a wider movement. By centering fathers as caregivers, storytellers, and community builders, we can transform families, and the nation itself.

We are mindful that our work is not a magic pill for the structural roots of fatherlessness. To claim otherwise would be hubris. But we are here, men, fathers, present in this moment of history, and we intervene in the best way we know how. Through small, consistent actions, we hope to create ripples of lasting change.

Written by: Sifiso “Atomza” Buthelezi, Director at Black Dads Unplugged