The University of Johannesburg (UJ)’s Faculty of Humanities and the Centre for the Study of Race, Gender and Class (CSRGC), in partnership with the Emma Mashinini Foundation, will host the second annual Emma Mashinini Public Lecture on Tuesday, 25 August 2026.

This year’s lecture addresses the critical theme: “From Protest to Power: 70 Years of Women’s Struggles for Freedom, Justice, and Democratic Renewal in South Africa.”

The event honours the legacy of the late Dr Emma Mashinini, a trade unionist, gender activist, and struggle icon who dedicated her life to social justice and workers’ rights.

Zingiswa Losi, President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), will deliver the keynote address.

Elected as Cosatu’s first female president in 2018, Losi has been a formidable voice in labour relations and gender equality across South Africa. A trained military veteran of Umkhonto we Sizwe and an experienced trade union strategist, Losi’s background brings deep insight into the intersection of organised labour, gender struggles, and democratic governance.

Professor Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel, a distinguished political scientist based at the Center for Conflict Studies at Marburg University in Germany, will serve as the primary respondent and discussant. As an international scholar, her research focuses on peace, development, and international studies. She is a co-editor of the Routledge Series Gender in a Global/Local World and serves on the editorial board of Third World Quarterly.

Event Details

Date: Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Time: 17:00 – 19:00

Venue: Sun International Auditorium, School of Tourism and Hospitality (STH), Auckland Park Bunting Road Campus, Cottesloe, Johannesburg