At the Arise News Women of Impact in Africa 2026, revered South African anti-apartheid activist Sophie Williams-De Bruyn called for African youths to take risks and push borders.
In her acceptance speech as one of the honourees, she urged the continent's youth to see themselves as the future, adding that "the future is bright."
Williams-De Bruyn was among the South Africans who fought against the harrowing period of Apartheid. As an anti-apartheid activist and a leader within the African National Congress Women's League, she organised resistance campaigns that challenged systemic injustice.
During the 60th-anniversary commemoration of the 1956 Women's March in Pretoria on August 9, 2016, she addressed a large crowd and reflected on the protests against the apartheid pass laws imposed on Black women in 1952. She remains the last living leader of the historic march, and her courage during pivotal national protests continues to form part of South Africa's democratic memory.
The veteran activist also used the occasion to call on women to continue to "inspire and uplift each other and leave a legacy that will be remembered for generations to come."
