While Nokuthula Simelane never lived to cast a vote in democratic South Africa, she helped make it possible, with President Cyril Ramaphosa stating that her unfinished dream now rests, in part, in the hands of the young people who inherited the freedom she fought for.
Delivering the inaugural Nokuthula Simelane Memorial Lecture at the University of Mpumalanga on Thursday, President Ramaphosa challenged young South Africans to transform the legacy of the 23-year-old liberation activist into active participation in democracy and the building of a more equal society.
“Nokuthula never lived to cast a ballot. On the 4th of November this year, millions of South Africans will vote freely – in conditions of fairness and peace – for democratic local government,” President Ramaphosa said.
The President’s call comes ahead of the 2026 Local Government Elections, which he said would be the 14th time South Africans have gone to the polls in nationwide elections for national, provincial or local government.
While describing the country’s electoral record as a major achievement, Ramaphosa warned that democracy cannot be measured by elections alone.
“But the strength of our democracy lies not merely in the conduct of regular elections. It lies in the participation of those whom democracy is meant to serve,” he said.
The President raised particular concern about youth participation, noting that in the 2024 elections, fewer than half of registered voters under 30 turned out to vote.
“Young people are less likely to be registered to vote than older people. This puts young people at a disadvantage. It limits their ability to determine the future of their communities, their cities and towns, and their country,” he said.
He urged young people to recognise the power they hold in shaping the society in which they live.
“As young people – and as a society – we must strive to ensure that through our electoral process the voice of youth is heard and that the power of youth is felt.”
For the President, the relevance of Simelane’s story to young South Africans extends beyond the circumstances of her disappearance.
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He said that although she was young, she understood the oppressive nature of apartheid and deliberately chose to resist it.
“She was young. But she was not naïve. Nor was she blind to the danger of what she had undertaken. She would not surrender to fear of arrest, of torture or of death,” he said.
Simelane was still a student when she joined Umkhonto we Sizwe and undertook the dangerous work of a courier, carrying messages between Swaziland and South Africa.
President Ramaphosa reflected on the life she could have lived had she survived apartheid.
“Had she lived, she would have seen apartheid fall. She would have cast her first vote.”
“She would have been among those who wrote our democratic Constitution. She would have been one of those building a new nation. She would have been at the forefront of the fight against poverty and inequality,” he said.
Instead, the President said, her life now challenges the present generation to consider its own purpose.
“Her life – a life so imbued with purpose, meaning and dedication – challenges us all to reflect on our purpose. It challenges the young people of today to shape their principles and ideals.
“To define society, they want to build and determine the lives they want to live. Her life challenges the youth of today to find purpose and to strive as she did to realise the world in which she wanted to live,” he said.
That challenge, President Ramaphosa said, must also extend to the constitutional promise of human dignity.
South Africa has built what he described as “one of the more resilient constitutional democracies to emerge from the twentieth century”, with independent courts, a free media, strong unions, civil society and a progressive Constitution.
But the President cautioned that rights cannot exist only as constitutional ideals.
“Our Constitution is among the most progressive in the world. Our Bill of Rights guarantees fundamental rights that were denied Nokuthula: freedom of association and expression, the right to vote, the right to human dignity and the right to life.
“The Bill of Rights does more. It is an instrument of transformation.”
He challenged South Africans to examine how rights are experienced in daily life.
“What does the Bill of Rights mean for a person still living in a shack, for a child learning in a classroom that is falling apart, for a family that goes hungry, for a household without water?” he said.
The President said Simelane’s generation had not fought for constitutional rights merely to see them written into law.
“Nokuthula did not fight so that human dignity would exist only on paper. She fought so that human dignity would be a lived reality.”
“It is our responsibility – our purpose – to give meaning to those rights,” he said.
Inequality
This responsibility, he said, also requires confronting the stubborn inequalities that remain three decades into democracy.
While South Africa has made progress in expanding access to housing, education, healthcare, water and social support, Ramaphosa acknowledged that millions still experience poverty and inadequate services.
He pointed to a housing backlog of approximately 2.6 million units and said that, although more than 82% of households have access to clean water, millions remain without it.
“Progress is not merely about units delivered. It is about lasting change in people’s lives.”
Gender equality
The President also linked Simelane’s legacy to the continuing struggle for gender equality.
He said that while women had made significant advances in education, public leadership and the economy, young women continue to face barriers including school dropout, unemployment, gender-based violence and unequal opportunities.
“As men, we have a responsibility to confront the attitudes, institutions and practices that continue to discriminate against women. We have a responsibility as men to prevent violence against women. To speak out against it. And not to commit it.”
President Ramaphosa said the newly established Nokuthula Simelane Centre for Gender and Intersectional Studies should become part of this ongoing national work.
“Through the work of this Centre, we must deepen the understanding that gender equality, like racial equality, is not a favour, but a fundamental human right,” he said.
He also called on the Foundation and Centre to inspire young people to discover and pursue their purpose.
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“The South Africa that Nokuthula Simelane fought for – and for which she gave her life – is a nation still in the making.
“We have realised much of what she dreamed of. But there is still much to do. It is what remains undone that makes the Nokuthula Simelane Foundation and this memorial lecture so necessary,” the President said. –SAnews.gov.za
