A Coalition of the Willing: Reimagining Youth Democracy 50 Years After Soweto

By Moeketsi Koahela, Youth Representative (CRDC) & Democracy Works Foundation

I am writing this in the month of June 2026, and it’s important to note this because in South Africa - June is considered ‘Youth Month’ to remember and commemorate the youth of June 16, 1976. 

The question is important in two ways: first, it looks to the past to understand the present realities of youth in South Africa and with some faith make a case for the future concerning youth in South Africa, if not the African continent. Second, the question invokes the famous feminist adage that ‘the personal is political’ - which in my reflections is to say I am writing these reflections from a relatively privileged vantage point or position in South African society as a young person (between 15-34 years of age), one of the fortunate young people in South Africa who are who are employed, educated, and trained. 

Be that as it may, however, I thus write these reflections having to remind myself that my story is not every young South African’s story in the context of employment, education, and training. According to Statistics South Africa, despite my generation [youth] occupying the largest share [21,0 million] of my country’s population, the labour market outcomes concerning youth are unfavourable. Statistics South Africa informs us that in the first quarter of 2026, 5,6 million youth between the age categories of 15-34 were employed, on the other hand, 4,7 million were unemployed and the rest of the 10,6 million youth were outside of the labour force. Any genuine reflection worth its salt cannot avoid the fact that there is a youth unemployment crisis in South Africa. 

It is no wonder then that South African youth are described as apathetic, disengaged, and locked out of economic opportunities or that the structures in place in the realm of the economy, political and social life have made it increasingly difficult for young people to survive and thrive. The effect [intended or unintended] of this reality is South African youth who are disillusioned with democracy and our Constitution. I have seen and heard this disillusionment from the many young people I have worked with in the South African Civil Society space through Civic Education workshops focusing on South Africa’s Constitution, voter education and participation at a local government level. I am therefore not surprised when youth in large numbers find belonging with gangs and crime involvement, including but not limited to social movements that are anti-immigration, racist, and homophobic. Tthese groups or social movements provide a space to air out their grievances and concerns surrounding their everyday lived experiences. 

Safe to say, the current status quo in the form of a social contract between youth and the South African Democratic architecture needs new thinking, and reimagination. Remember that June month in South Africa is regarded as ‘youth month’? Well it is also true that this June month unlike any other is the 50th anniversary of June 16, 1976. The events of June 16, 1976, saw young people in the township of Soweto, segregated at the time for ‘Africans’ [Black] marching against the use of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction and learning in the wide and breadth of the Apartheid education system - which already was inferior in the context of quality education for Blacks at the time. The response of the previous Apartheid regime and their security apparatus to what was supposed to be a peaceful march became a violent one that led to the deaths of many young lives at the time exposing the depravity of the Apartheid state in its entirety. 

50 years after the June 16, 1976, events, youth in this current moment are saying it can no longer be ‘business as usual’ with the South Africa democratic state. 2026 Youth while not as well organized as the youth of 1976 are however finding alternative means to survive, even when those means are not legal. And those of us who work at the intersection of civil society, and democracy who have had civic education engagements with youth living in townships, rural areas, and informal settlements have seen the rumblings of discontent for a while and have decided to do something about it - and this is why I am involved with the Cross-Regional Democracy Collective. An initiative seeking to foster cross-regional collaboration between scholars to elevate research on democracy outside of a ‘western framework lens’ and one that is deeply rooted in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. 

It is a fact that globally democracy is under attack and needs to be reimagined away from a Western hegemonic prescript. It is why I describe this cohort or grouping as a coalition of the willing made up of scholars, and civic democracy practitioners from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East who have come together informed by our unique contexts to re-engage, reimagine and rework the current status quo and offer solutions that center young people’s wellbeing and shaping societies with a much more equal and fairer face. The first meeting held on 9 April 2026 demonstrated both the capability and willingness to meet the current geo-political moment where it is: systematically broken and perpetuating inequalities of the past into the present. Ours is to offer a counternarrative about what works, what can be scaled and implemented to future proof our societies many of our diverse youth will inherit. 

The willingness of the diversity of people attending this first virtual meeting demonstrated that we would do what it takes and spares no efforts in finding answers to current challenges by taking citizens along with us in this work. If there are those who are organizing themselves alongside fascism, militarization, and far-right ideas then surely those of us who at the core believe in freedom can mobilize and organize ourselves to offer a counter-response that is citizen-led that moves beyond theory to praxis. I am tempted to quote Frantz Fanon and his words about each generation having its own mission to fulfill, but I don’t want this to be read or seen to be another speech making exercise or manifesto that youth especially have heard countless times. Mine is to simply share, in this brief reflection, that young people of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East - we see you, you matter and partner with us in your communities as we go about this work. In fact, you are the experts of your communities, and we want to work with you with the little resources we have at our disposal to get our societies functioning for each and every one of us - young and old. This is intergenerational work at its best.  

There are different ways of being an activist, and we should hold space for that - while some of us are marching, some of us will write about it. While some of us are on social media, some of us will engage in community media. While others are negotiating with the ‘powers that be’, others will conduct community civic and citizen led workshops in our communities. This work is all round, and no one activist is more special than the other. If anything, we are all singing the same song using different languages. Our goal is to find a collective thread and weave it into a workable solution for all.