Image: rawpixel.com/Freepik.com

June 16 commemorates the fearless youth of Soweto who rose against apartheid’s Bantu Education system in 1976. At the University of the Western Cape (UWC), this history of resistance is not only remembered, but lived. Once a battleground for academic freedom and social justice, UWC has become a sanctuary for a new generation of human rights defenders across Africa.

Through the African Universities Hub for Human Rights (Africa Hub), UWC offers a lifeline to young activists under threat - those facing harassment, surveillance, and repression for daring to speak truth to power. Established in 2023, the Africa Hub provides training, refuge and community for human rights defenders (HRDs), ensuring they are not isolated in their struggles. In doing so, UWC continues to be more than a place of learning - it is a space of protection, solidarity and transformation for Africa’s youth-led movements for justice.

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.

A 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 is 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 is 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 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.

“[In Uganda] I lived with a great level of fear and stress. In this regard, the three-month 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,” said Toko.

By gathering these defenders at UWC, knowledge, activism, memory, and the future converge as the University, once again a site for emancipatory struggles, 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. 

The fellowship is a structured, strategic intervention that opens the University to HRDs and provides a space for safety, rest, reflection and regeneration. While at UWC, fellows have opportunities to audit academic courses and present as guest speakers in lectures and on other platforms. By engaging in these various activities, fellows also share their knowledge, 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 an academic environment into 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. 

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

The fellowship's success relies on the collaborative approach of UWC’s various faculty staff and support units, who contribute in multiple 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 programme's core, it ensures that human rights defenders are supported and empowered to continue their work under safer conditions and with greater resilience. Thus, the Africa Hub collaborates with various actors within the UWC campus and civil society to provide psychosocial support to its fellows. This is a way to go beyond offering physical safety and provide a holistic programme offering that allows space to heal, reflect and grow. It is done with a clear understanding of defenders' difficulties in burnout, trauma, surveillance and other challenges in maintaining their well-being.

“The classes…were an incredible and transformative experience… and the counselling therapy sessions offered within the programme were something I truly valued. They allowed me to recognise the importance of prioritising my mental health, even as a HRD," explained Kimani. 

The programme is 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. 

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 in protecting defenders of freedom and democracy.

* Mmeli Dube is a Politics and Urban Governance Research Group (PUG) researcher and Programme Lead for the Africa Hub for Human Rights (Africa Hub).