Cape Town/Online, Wednesday, 10 June 2026 — The Human Sciences Research Council invites members of the media to a special HSRC Connect Session reflecting on the enduring challenges facing South African youth, from the 1976 Soweto Uprising to present-day student struggles.
The dialogue will be held at the HSRC’s Cape Town office and livestreamed on the HSRC YouTube channel, on Thursday, 11 June 2026 from 14h00 to 15h30.
Marking Youth Month, this live session places the pivotal moment of the Soweto Uprising in dialogue with contemporary youth realities. In 1976, young people in township schools resisted Bantu Education and the enforcement of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, policies that symbolised broader systems of inequality and exclusion.
While the challenges differ, today’s youth still face systemic barriers. The #FeesMustFall movement highlighted ongoing struggles with study fees, poverty, and unemployment.
This session will place those historical experiences in dialogue with the realities confronting youth today, including persistently high unemployment, unequal access to quality education and resources, and deep spatial inequalities across urban centres, townships, and under-resourced rural areas.
By drawing connections between past and present, the discussion will explore both continuity and change in the lives of young South Africans.
The conversation will feature Sibongile Mkhabela, the only female member of the Soweto 11 who were tried and detained by the state, alongside #FeesMustFall student activist Nompendulo Mkhatshwa. They will be joined by HSRC youth specialists Prof Sharlene Swartz, Dr Angelique Wildschut, and Dr Adam Cooper for a rich, intergenerational dialogue on youth, resistance, and the future.
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Details of the event
Date: 11 June 2026
Time: 14h00–15h30
Venue: Online and HSRC building in Cape Town
Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/1DWqeQ46QDo
For media enquiries, please contact Adziliwi Nematandani: Cell: +27 82 765 9191 Email: anematandani@hsrc.ac.za
Join the Conversation:
#16June1976 #FeesMustFall
Notes to the editor
About the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)
The HSRC was established in 1968 as South Africa’s statutory research agency and has grown to become the largest dedicated research institute in the social sciences and humanities on the African continent, doing cutting-edge public research in areas that are crucial to development.
Our mandate is to inform the effective formulation and monitoring of government policy; to evaluate policy implementation; to stimulate public debate through the effective dissemination of research-based data and fact-based research results; to foster research collaboration; and to help build research capacity and infrastructure for the human sciences.
The Council conducts large-scale, policy-relevant, social-scientific research for public sector users, non-governmental organisations and international development agencies. Its research activities and structures are closely aligned with South Africa’s national development priorities.
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