Living the legacy of June 16 - UWC as a space of sanctuary for young African human rights defenders

First published on the UWC website

Published: 13 June 2025

 

By Mmeli Dube, Researcher at the Politics and Urban Governance Research Group (PUG) and Programme Lead for the Africa Hub for Human Rights (Africa Hub)

 

June 16 marks the commemoration of the uprising by young people in Soweto against the Bantu education imposed by the apartheid regime. The University of the Western Cape shares this history of struggle and is renowned for opposing the very system under which it was established as a university for coloured people at the time. Students and academics transformed the university into a site of resistance in their fight against the apartheid system. In the 1960s and 1970s, the University played a significant role in the youth and student movements that provided momentum for the June 16, 1976, uprising. That legacy continues through the work of the African Universities Hub for Human Rights (Africa Hub), which has become a pioneering sanctuary for young African human rights defenders. 

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The Africa Hub, established in 2023 at UWC, supports human rights defenders throughout Africa by providing targeted training, a Protective Fellowship for at-risk individuals, and fostering research and collaboration to address emerging threats. The Hub aims to create a strong network between universities and civil society to enhance the support and protection for human rights defenders.

Young human rights defenders who are also inspired by the spirit of 1976 and other key historical moments to fight for human rights and democracy across the African continent pay a heavy price for their commitment to those struggles. In many places, these courageous activists endure intimidation, detentions, cyber-bullying, surveillance and other forms of harm. Where defenders lack adequate support systems, such experiences often lead to disengagement in movements fighting for human rights and democracy. Such challenges also weaken movements and embolden authoritarian regimes that continue to constrict civic space and academic freedom.

The three-month non-academic Protective Fellowship, one of the Africa hub’s flagship programmes, is a response to these increasing threats that human rights defenders (HRDs) face in many parts of Africa. While HRD protection mechanisms exist, few are based or led from within the African continent, let alone from universities. The Fellowship’s launch in 2024 made UWC one of the first universities to pioneer a Protective Fellowship scheme tailored to HRDs working in stressful environments.  From September to December 2024, the Africa Hub hosted its first cohort of Fellows. The inaugural Fellowship was designed as a rest and respite for HRDs working in stressful environments. 

The first cohort in 2024 had three HRDs: Godwin Toko, a human rights advocate and a lawyer from Uganda. Once a student leader at Makerere University, he has become a prominent voice for change through Agora CFR, leveraging social media and grassroots campaigns to address issues ranging from potholes to corruption. Gloria Kimani, an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She is an active member of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and serves on several committees, including the Lawyer-Police Relations Committee. Gloria has played a crucial role in defending victims of police brutality, and coordinating pro-bono legal services for protestors, particularly during the Gen Z protests against tax increases proposed by the Government of Kenya in the Finance Bill in 2024. Sheila Nhancale is a Mozambican lawyer working in human rights, particularly in protecting Human Rights Defenders and supporting fair and free elections. She previously coordinated the Mozambique Human Rights Defenders Network (RMDDH) and is now a research consultant on human rights, elections, and political regimes.

The programme offers these defenders a temporary break from constant threat. In this environment, defenders reconnect with their purpose. As one of the 2024 Fellow reflected,

 

 

 

 

“[In Uganda] I lived with a great level of fear and stress. In this regard, the three months rest and respite – thousands of kilometres away from Uganda – was a much-needed reprieve: a time to stay safe, reflect, learn, and observe any risks from a distance”. – Godwin Toko, Uganda, 2024 Fellow. 

 

 

By gathering these defenders at UWC, knowledge, activism, memory, and the future converge as the university, once again, a site for emancipatory struggles, and lives up to its continued commitment to social justice. The Africa Hub strengthens Pan-African solidarities and facilitates cross-border learning among young human rights defenders. Thus, through this contribution, UWC commemorates June 16 through action, therefore embodying its legacy and values. As seen from the profiles of the first cohort, the AUH Fellowship at UWC unites young defenders from across the continent whose activism resembles the courage and clarity of the 1976 generation. 

The Fellowship is a structured, strategic intervention that opens up the university to HRDs and provides a space for safety, rest, reflection and regeneration. While at UWC, Fellows have opportunities to audit academic courses, present as guest speakers in lectures and on other platforms. By engaging in these various activities, Fellows also share their knowledge, thereby enriching the teaching and learning experiences. The Fellows also have the space and resources to remain involved in activism in their home country or region. This expands the university beyond being an academic space into being a space for refuge and solidarity. The Fellowship supports the political inclusion of the youth.. It insists on the university’s responsibility to open its doors wider. 

Fellows also participate in the Africa Hub’s training programmes, such as the annual Summer School, hosted every September. The 2024 edition attracted many young defenders from fifteen African countries, thereby expanding the Fellows’ opportunities to network and learn from a broader group of defenders from various parts of the continent. Through the Summer School, UWC actively commemorates the legacy of June 16 by building a strong cadre of human rights defenders across the continent. Reflecting on the impact of these aspects of the programme, one of the 2024 Fellows had this to say:

 

 

 

 

“This programme has had a significant impact on my personal development, providing me with both practical skills and emotional support to continue my work as a human rights…the fellowship has been an empowering experience”. —Sheila Nhancale, Mozambique, 2024 Fellow.

 

 

The success of the Fellowship relies on the collaborative approach of the UWC’s various faculty staff, and support units, who contribute in various ways. Outside the university, they also engage with South African democratic institutions and tour historical sites that resonate with human rights struggles. Other key aspects of the Fellowship are networking with civil society organisations in Cape Town and community visits for cultural exchange. Such partnerships strengthen the programme, ensuring that defenders are supported holistically.

At the core of the programme is the idea of ensuring that human rights defenders are supported and empowered to continue it under safer conditions and with greater resilience. Thus, the Africa Hub collaborates with various actors within the UWC campus and in civil society to provide psychosocial support to its Fellows. This is a way to go beyond offering physical safety and offer a holistic programme offering that allows space to heal, reflect and grow. It is done with a clear understanding of the difficulties that defenders facing burnout, trauma, surveillance and other challenges face in maintaining their wellbeing. 

 

 

 

 

“The classes…were an incredible and transformative experience… and the counselling therapy sessions offered within the program were something I truly valued. ​ It allowed me to recognise the importance of prioritising my mental health, even as a HRD.” — Gloria Kimani, Kenya, 2024 Fellow. 

 

 

The programme serves as a practical response to young organisers, writers, digital activists, journalists, students, academics, and others who get punished for confronting extractive economies, patriarchal systems, and authoritarian regimes. Participants are nominated by civil society organisations, university centres, units, and individual defenders within the Africa Hub’s network. This year, the programme will expand and bring six young defenders from Ethiopia, Libya, Cameroon, Zambia, and Tunisia. Building on the successes of the Fellowship, the Africa Hub, working with SAIH, is launching a Students at Risk programme to support young African activists and HRDs who have been denied education or persecuted because of their activism. UWC is once again committed to being a safe academic home  where young defenders (students) can freely continue their studies.

As we commemorate the legacy of those who courageously fought against apartheid, colonialism, and other forms of oppression—from university campuses, streets, and exile—we must ask what universities must do to defend freedom in Africa. UWC commemorates June 16, its legacy and values, by creating and holding spaces for young African defenders and protecting those who fight for human rights, democracy and peace. While such interventions draw inspiration from memory, they also embody UWC’s values of solidarity, dignity, and justice, allowing the university to affirm its role as a space for activism and the protection of defenders of freedom and democracy.