From 1976 to 2025: is protest culture still relevant to youth?

TimesLIVE

16-06-2025

Like the youth of 1976, today's young people are passionate about creating a better world through protest, but their voices are often ignored. With many set to look back at the events of June 1976, a question many ponder is whether protest culture is still relevant to today's youth.
Mcebo Dlamini, former Witwatersrand SRC and #Feesmustfall activist, still believes that protest culture for young people is as necessary now as it was during the Soweto Uprising because he believes that protest culture in its truest sense is a disruption of the norm. If the norm does not favour young people, that norm must be disrupted. Dlamini emphasised the fact that young people must unite and devise strategies on how to make their protests sustainable and impactful.
'Young people must penetrate all spaces where there is an opportunity to change their conditions for the better, the youth must saturate such a space, at least where there is total freedom and white supremacy, along with capitalism, does not reign.'
Sihle Seleke, who is a prominent anti gender-based violence activist and founder of the Kwanele Foundation, believes protesting is not 100% relevant. While it raises public awareness, Seleke argues that leaders often fail to take meaningful action and young people can protest as much as they want, but implementation on the ground is still lacking.
Seleke said young people must protest through voting and with the local elections coming up, young people need to vote for the change they want to see.
'This thing of voting because our grandmother liked whatever party and it's trendy no longer serves a purpose. The only way we can protest in the right way is to vote, let your vote be your change, let your vote be your voice because femicide is on the rise on a daily basis,' she said
Dlamini said that as long as the hierarchies that existed during apartheid have not been altered, there is always going to be a need to protest and believes it puts local politics in a loop. He said the questions that 'our forefathers were dealing with' were still the same problems that 'we are dealing with in the present.'
'It is almost as if we are trapped in an endless cycle of suffering and the wheel just keeps on turning,' he said.
'A proper diagnosis of this is that we are not dealing with the problems of the youth from a structural level but we are too focused on the symptoms instead of dealing with the root cause. which in this case includes an education that denies black people access to tertiary institutions on the basis that they do not have money. Fees Must Fall was an opportune moment, which did give us certain gains but failure to stretch to society as a whole was the limitation.'
'Our president has signed many beautiful laws and bills into power but we're still to see implementation.
Anti-GBV activist Sihle Seleke
Dlamini said young people must unite and devise strategies on how to make their protests sustainable and impactful. 'Young people must penetrate all spaces where there is an opportunity to change their conditions for the better; the youth must saturate such a space.'
Angela Molepo, a 20-year-old gender-based violence activist who was the first young person to start a national shutdown over the Cwecwe case through an organisation called Justice SA, said if young people limit their activism to hashtags, they are not going to go anywhere. For Molepo, protest doesn't hold the same relevance nor does it help with anything, due to the government studying the new generation.
'People protest on social media, hoping it will be public knowledge to our government, which is never the case. When the government sees a group of youth fighting over something, they try to shut us down. We still have our voice, but we are waiting for people of power to remind us of that because we are conditioned into thinking we don't know ourselves and our belonging,' said Molepo. 'Young people are fighting for job opportunities because those in power, who benefited from apartheid, are holding onto positions and leaving no space for the youth.'
This is a painful reminder to Seleke who continues to highlight a concerns of South African youth. Due to a lack of employment, Seleke says it's not fair that young people still protest over such socioeconomic issues.
'Our president has signed many beautiful laws and bills into power but we're still to see implementation. Our president claims that [alleged perpetrators of] gender-based violence and femicide should not be given bail freely, but we're still seeing them getting bail. Our government is playing with our minds. For example they brought into law the POPI Act, which states you cannot disclose someone's personal details without their permission or else you will be prosecuted. It's a crime but guess what? We are amplifying our voices saying the sexual offenders' list must be made public so we will know who's on that list but the POPI Act is stopping us from making the sexual offenders' list public because we cannot expose their identity so who's fooling who,' said Seleke.
Collen Malatji of the ANC Youth League, who grew up in crime-ridden Thembisa, believes that this Youth Month should be a call to action. He urges young people to unite and fight against the systemic issues that affect them, advocating for liberation for all.
Malatji emphasises the relevance of protesting, noting that its purpose has evolved from fighting against the apartheid system to raising awareness about the prevailing agendas and cultures that perpetuate inequality. He stresses that protesting should be a regular form of expression, whether in good or bad times.
With the advent of new platforms, Malatji acknowledges that young people now have more avenues to make their voices heard. However, he notes that those in power often forget the struggles of the youth, making it necessary for young people to remind them through protest.
Malatji emphasises that addressing gender-based violence requires more male role models in communities, teaching boys how to respect and treat women. He notes that this issue transcends economic status, as even wealthy men abuse women.
Malatji's vision is for South Africa's youth to take ownership of the country's economic activities, becoming responsible leaders who drive positive change. He urges young people to be proactive, responding to economic demands and speaking out against injustices, rather than passively observing wrongdoing. Young people can protest as much as they want, but implementation on the ground is still lacking.