Zandile Ndhlovu, or the “Black Mermaid” as she is widely known, brought her enduring story to Gqeberha of how a Soweto-raised woman who had never seen the ocean until she was 12 came to be a renowned free diver advocating for ocean conservation and climate change.

Ndhlovu, SA’s first black free-diving instructor and a global icon for ocean protection and swimming education, was the first keynote speaker in a new series of First Thursday Talks hosted by the SA Cultural Observatory (Saco) in Gqeberha recently...