The Forge and SERI invite you to a commemorative event bringing together music and critical reflection on the connections across the 1976 student uprising, the 2012 strike and massacre; and contemporary student protests.
The event will focus specifically on:
· The lived experience of the Marikana families and continued lack of state of accountability 14 years on;
· The connections between Marikana and contemporary youth struggles;
· The continuum of state violence in 1976, 2012 and subsequent protest;
· The significance of the Mthokozisi Ntumba street renaming.
Date
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Saturday 15 August 2026
Time
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11am
Speakers
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Nowili Nungu and Sebolai Liau lost their fathers in the Marikana massacre. Nowili is the daughter of the late Jackson Lehupa and Sebolai is the son of the late Janeveke Raphael Liau.
Speaker
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Dinga Sikwebu is a retired National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) head of education. Presently, he is a Global Labour University (GLU) research associate at the University of the Witwatersrand. As a high school student, he took part in the 1976 youth rebellion in Cape Town.
Speaker
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Julian Brown is an associate Professor in Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand and author of Soweto Uprising (2026) and Marikana: A People’s History (2022).
Music
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iPhupho L’ka Biko is a Johannesburg-based Pan-Africanist jazz collective founded in 2015 by visionary bassist and composer Nhlanhla Ngqaqu. Born from the jam sessions, music schools, and resistance culture of Braamfontein, the band is a spiritual and sonic embodiment of Steve Biko’s dream—a dream of Black consciousness, unity, and self-determination through sound.