Thursday, 6 August 2026

The Women’s Month seminar series opened with a focus on Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, alongside a wider question about what women’s agenda for 2026 and beyond should look like.

The 1956 Women’s March was recalled as a working-class organising moment: it happened on a Thursday because domestic workers were off, and Women’s Day was said to have been hollowed out of that history.

A strong case was made for preserving lived accounts of South African history, especially women’s stories, through archives, writing, film and institutional support instead of leaving memory vulnerable to erasure.

The Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study’s African Biographies Project was highlighted as part of the effort to fill historical gaps, including Winnie Mandela’s biography and other unfinished stories.

The programme also plans to honour figures such as Mama Mmongile Mkabela and host a 18 August panel on adaptation in literature, showing the seminar series will link history to contemporary women’s voices.