BEYOND THAT DAY
As we celebrated 16 years of SERI, we felt it important to reflect on the youth we fight for, and we recalled a picture of two young men, visibly homeless, standing among Wits University students in Braamfontein over a decade ago. The picture trended because of the seemingly ‘legitimate’ question of how dare those youth join the fight for Free Tertiary Education, almost as if their exclusion from higher education removed them from the conversation about what South Africa must provide for its youth. As we acknowledge the tremendous impact of the #FeesMustFall generation, and as we honour the youth of 1976, we feel it urgent to seal this milestone celebration with a vow.
The vow
We vow to build the South Africa we dream of with intention. A South Africa whose abundance of ambition is admirable, a country that acknowledges its deepest fears, but acts based on its greatest aspirations.
Chief among these is a country that acknowledges the inherent dignity of every human being and seeks to govern itself so this dignity is manifested and experienced by all.
We will not nourish the tree of freedom with our blood2, but we will use our hearts, brains, hands, and our very being. We insist on living for our people. We will not do it alone; we will continue to collaborate and seek others to build it.
We will model health in community by starting with projects shaped by mutuality, built with our existing partners, collaborators, and allies. We will then branch out by building trust with those who share our bold ambition. We will also go deep, really deep, to the people that the recognised voices have already counted out. We will approach them one by one, as we have continued to mention, at an arm’s length and away from public glare.
We will reflect on the spaces of social power we have already conceded, then approach those critical to bringing our country to health.
Honouring the lives we lost and committing ourselves to do our best to stop the loss of life, in all its forms - physical, spiritual, intellectual, and social. Addressing our state of dying and working to bring our country to a point of recovery, then living, and then ultimately thriving. Sibuyise isidima sabantu bakuthi.
May God protect our people.
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso.
God seën Suid-Afrika. God bless South Africa.
Mudzimu fhatutshedza Afurika. Hosi katekisa Afrika.3
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[1] Zechariah 4 v 10
[2] Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu said; “My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them. They must continue the fight.” https://www.gov.za/about-government/solomon-kalushi-mahlangu-1956-1979 accessed on 20 October 2026.
[3] The closing to the preamble of the South African Constitution, which boldly opens with “We, the people”
[END]
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