President Ramaphosa honours struggle icon Nokuthula Simelane – SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa’s news leader.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the struggle icon Nokuthula Simelane as a brave and courageous young woman who put the country first. Ramaphosa delivered the inaugural Nokuthula Simelane Memorial Lecture at the University of Mpumalanga.

Simelane went missing after she was abducted by the Special Branch of the apartheid police.

“She was born on the 5th September 1959. The day after tomorrow, she would have turned 67 years. And that is why we chose the month of September to be a real remembrance for her. Maybe the month of September was a month of the good and the bad. She was born; she disappeared,” said Nokuthula Simelane’s sister, Thembisile Simelane, who is the Minister of Human Settlements.

“More than that, we owe it to Nokuthula and to all who gave their lives for our freedom, to continue to strive for – and to achieve – the South Africa for which they fought.”
Inaugural Nokuthula Simelane Memorial Lecture by President @CyrilRamaphosa, University of Mpumalanga… pic.twitter.com/rmr0VUnSGA
— The Presidency 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) September 3, 2026

Simelane was described as one of the young struggle icons who dedicated their lives to the liberation of the country. She was abducted and tortured by the apartheid-era police a few weeks before her graduation.

Thembi Simelane says their only wish now is to get her remains. She also raised concerns that the trial for the murder of her sister is delayed by the defence’s interlocutory applications.

She says one of the perpetrators claims that he is now suffering from dementia.

“For me, even on record into the NPA, I am even willing to discuss immunity. I am not in an eye for an eye; it will not benefit anyone. What is of interest for me and my family is to get her remains or to get the truth, so we could arrive at closure. Yeah, so that’s where the case is. We are hoping to go back, I think, at the end of October.”

President @CyrilRamaphosa delivers the inaugural Nokuthula Simelane Memorial Lecture at the University of Mpumalanga in Mbombela.
The Memorial Lecture brings the life and legacy of @NokuthulaSF into a national conversation on truth, justice, accountability and reconciliation,… pic.twitter.com/njXqnuoaq4
— The Presidency 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) September 3, 2026

Spokesperson of Nokuthula Simelane, Thembisa Mdoda, says a series of events have been coming up to keep her legacy alive.

“As the Nokuthula Simelane Foundation, we believe that change starts with a conversation, and I think today as we do the Nokuthula Simelane Memorial Lecture, the inaugural one with His Excellency President Ramaphosa, we’re starting a dialogue, an important dialogue, where people get to understand and know Nokuthula Simelane and how she pushed democracy in this country. She’s been missing for 43 years now, and I think the world needs to know that.”

Delivering the Nokuthula Simelane Memorial Lecture, President Cyril Ramaphosa called on young people to exercise their democratic right to vote in honour of Simelane and other struggle stalwarts who lost their lives in the cause of liberating the country.

Ramaphosa also called on young people to play a meaningful role in transforming the country.

“What does the Bill of Rights mean for a person still living in a shack, for a child learning in a classroom that is falling apart, for a family that goes hungry for a household without water? Nokuthula did not fight so that human dignity would exist only on paper. She fought so that human dignity would be a lived reality. It is our responsibility, our purpose, to give meaning to those rights. And it is young people of today who must give full meaning to the rights that Nokuthula fought for.”

Mpumalanga Premier says a new school will be built in Bethal and named after Nokuthula Simelane.

Meanwhile, the University of Mpumalanga has announced that the Nokuthula Simelane Memorial Lecture will be held annually in honour of the role she played in the liberation of this country.