On Sunday, August 20, hundreds of people gathered at the Johannesburg City Hall to celebrate the launch of the UDF in 1983. It was on that day, 40 years ago, that 500 community-based organisations and over 5000 activists, drawn from across the country, gathered to form a political movement that would lead SA through its last decade of apartheid.

The liberation struggle had suffered major defeats in the 1960s and 1970s, with the deaths, imprisonments and banning of political leaders and organisations. Reignited by the 1976 student riots, oppressed communities realised that they could no longer wait for their political heroes to come and save them. From sports grounds and street committees, to faith communities, they realised that it was not up to politicians alone to fight for freedom, communities needed to rise up and take charge of their liberation.

Faced with no government of the majority, and no political leadership free enough or united enough to fight for everyone, based on the collective action from all communities who were willing fight to end apartheid, regardless of race, class or geography, a mighty mass movement was born that united people in a context of high levels of division. Politicians do not have a monopoly on influencing politics. That was one of the great lessons of the UDF. Communities came together across differences to build political power.

SA shares similar conditions for political organising and struggle as those in 1983. The majority of South African people feel that they do not have a government, as government failures mount. Political parties are detached and inward looking. They might as well be in exile as they focus on internal factions in their parties and child-like squabbles between parties. The people of SA can no longer wait for politicians to self-correct, or for a messiah to arise from the ashes. We need a coalition of society to find a common political purpose.

SA is abuzz with talk of political party coalition, when what is most needed is a coalition of communities and change makers. The UDF40 Celebrations are an opportunity to call for such a “grand” coalition of society for political change. As it was with the UDF in the 1980s, this does not exclude political parties. Political activists can and should form part of communities in solidarity for change, but only if they are willing to be led by communities, rather than be centred in those struggles.

The UDF slogan was a powerful, simple phrase: “The UDF unites, Apartheid divides”. In today’s terms a new UDF may say, “The UDF unites, political parties divide”, because that is how many South Africans experience politics, as divisive: making deals not building solidarity.

In the past few months, I have been in several activist gatherings, with NGOs, community-based organisations and social movements discussing the future of the SA. Professionals in advocacy, community organisers, artists and activists are beginning to talk about and mobilise their resources and skills with the goal of influencing the 2024 national and provincial elections. This weekend, my belief that a new UDF is forming was confirmed, as a young generation of activists gathered before the UDF celebration building political power, topped off with powerful closing speeches by young people at the UDF celebration who also signalled that a new era of political activism had begun.

I end with a quote from Rekgotsofetse Chikane, the last speaker at Sunday’s celebration, when he said to erstwhile UDF activists: “My generation no longer has time to wait for an elite compact… It is not enough to go back into our communities to recreate structures of old. It is your responsibility to join and assist young people who are already organising… Our generation is finding our struggle. We are discovering our mission. And we refuse to betray it.”

May we not miss our generational moment to fight for the SA we all deserve.