Please note: This story is supported by Thrive Afrika and Trust Africa under the African Stories for Social Change programme.

Summary: Khanya Athule Baba uses protest art to address sexism, homophobia, and misogyny in South Africa. In 2015, Athule and her colleagues formed the Rebel Sistah Cypha, a feminist program of the Soundz of the South, to perform and critique the oppression in her community and pressing social injustices, while contributing to international solidarity action. Athule organises shows and leads performances from bus stations, community art spaces, schools, open playgrounds, and train stations, exposing social injustice. With a long history of activism, Athule finds herself away from her children and sometimes in danger from various sources. Nonetheless, she continues her protests and performances.

Profile: Khanya Athule Baba has a long history of activism. She grew up in a working-class community in the Eastern Cape, in a family of music lovers. After failing her matric, and being a single mother, Athule moved to Cape Town with the hope of finding a job. When that didn’t work, she returned to school to rewrite her matric. What she saw at her new school astonished her: Students were learning in metal containers, with limited resources.

This marked a turning point in Athule’s activist life. Inspired by feelings of justice and fairness and the teachings by the International Labour Research and Information Group, Athule and her colleagues mobilised fellow students to demand better learning conditions. This was not without challenges. The Department of Education attempted to stop her.

“I think what was difficult afterwards,” remembers Athule, “is that the Department of Education hired private investigators. So they wanted to find out basically who initiated the protests. But also the learners did not give out any information, so, basically, they wanted to find a way of expelling me from school, of which they were not successful.”

Her work has inspired many young people. On the 6th of March each year, Athule and her colleagues return to her school and protest. These protests have not only inspired fellow students but have also resulted in the construction of a “properly built school” and improved learning conditions.

When Fees Must Fall broke out, Athule, then a student of Anthropology, Sociology, and History at the University of the Western Cape, was among those in the forefront. Athule: “There were the sacrifices we had to make as activists. So we had to defer our exams when we were supposed to write, because we were taking our power back.” To reach a wider audience and popularise the cause, Athule wrote a poem, “My Deferred Dream,” to expose the injustices of the system that had made life unbearable for the majority of students from working-class and poor backgrounds. She was also selected to be part of the outreach team and spoke at national conferences. She fearlessly challenged the exclusion and prejudice that saw activists from historically black universities given poor treatment in important national forums. Athule then started working with the Soundz of the South, an activist movement that uses protest art to highlight social issues and calls for action. She used her experience at university and Fees Must Fall to compose protest music and poetry.

In all this struggle, Athule understood that her challenges were not natural but were created by the powerful in society: “For me, what basis was always important was to fight power. Because when I understood why life was the way it was for me and my family in Cape Town and the Eastern Cape, I had learnt that someone out there who has bigger power is taking from us. And I always made it my mission to contest that power. . . . I also think of a different world—that ability to have hope that there is a better world and in that better world we can all share, but capitalism steals and takes that away.”

Athule’s experience as someone from a poor working-class background at an elite university influenced her to write struggle songs. In her music, Athule exposed the the dominance of English and exclusion of indigenous languages, as well as other dehumanising practices by the university.

In some instances there were clear dangers: “I remember in 2017, the next morning after a protest, it was a crime scene and a lot of students were arrested. There was blood on the floor, broken windows, oh my God, fire extinguishers.”

But Athule was not daunted. She took her protests to other places, including rich malls and waterfronts. She was often accosted and, rather than retreat, took her protests to Parliament, gaining much public attention.

Her commitment to social justice saw Athule involved in both university and community activist work. With Soundz of the South, she began mixing her organising with music, poetry, and hip hop to confront social injustices plaguing her community, holding poetry and music sessions in various townships. Soon Soundz of the South transformed, giving birth to Rebel Sistah Cypha, a more radical feminist component. Khanya and most of her female colleagues contributed to its transformation, giving shape and character to the group.

Describing its transformation, Athule said, “We were now addressing the patriarch in the hip hop space. We host rebel sisters at Muholo house in Khayelitsha eHarare. There women take up space.” Rebel Sistah Cypha enables Athule and her colleagues “to speak about being black and queer, being black and unfree—all of those politics and the differences. Now we are creating a safe space where these conversations can be heard, but also where we are opening the space for us to be emotional. We opened a space to be emotional because usually people say when women address their issues, their immediate problem is emotions. Now we have opened an alternative space for us to be who we are.”

Athule’s work demands a lot of travelling; a mother of two, she has spent much time away from her family. Nonetheless, she asserts that her activism has given her character and that she intends to continue on her path for social justice: “I will not quit activism, because activism opens a space for me to find my voice, and it is a constant reminder that I must fight and there is room to fight . . . Activism will always fuel the fire in me.”