Thabisile Gumede
25 May 2026
On Africa Day, 25 May 2026, the South African Royal Princesses Network (SARPN) convened a landmark online event that wove together themes of heritage, womanhood, and mental wellness. Under the theme African Royal Women Leading the Future of the Continent, the inaugural webinar drew representatives from multiple kingdoms across South Africa, creating a space that was, by many accounts, both enriching and profoundly inspiring.
HRH Princess Stella Sigcau, founder of SARPN, opened the session by reflecting on the Network’s core mission: to support women, combat gender-based violence, and hold up Africa as a continent that has always nurtured futures. Her opening words set the tone for a day of candour and resolve. “Discussing mental illness was once taboo, but now it is being discussed on a platform where we will share wisdom and call for action,” she said.
HRH Princess Nandile Ndamase, chairperson of the Network, drew a powerful line between African heritage and mental health awareness. She named the very real struggles of black women – many of whom have inherited a culture of silent endurance – and challenged the notion that suffering constitutes strength. “As women, we persevered and adopted hardships that we shouldn’t hold. Strength does not mean enduring abuse; that does not make a woman imbokodo,” she explained. Princess Ndamase urged participants to treat mental health as an everyday conversation, one that draws on traditional wisdom alongside science and medicine, as the most effective way to confront the root causes of depression, anxiety, and violence that too often go untreated. When the stigma is removed, and the conversation becomes ordinary, she argued, communities can finally face the root of the problem.
HRH Princess Betty Mashashane added a call for intentional use of language and cultural memory. “We must remember who we are. Knowing where you come from gives you a fighting spirit when faced with challenges, when you know that you come from a lineage of warriors,” she said. The languages we speak, she added, can be powerful tools of empathy and connection.
Perhaps the most moving contribution came from journalist and PR practitioner Masechaba Mposwa, who shared her experience of growing up with a mother living with schizophrenia. Her mother had endured a series of traumatic events that went unaddressed, eventually leading to suicidal behaviour that the young Masechaba could not comprehend. “If you have mental health issues, get help so that you do not pass on frustrations to family, children or loved ones. I did not understand my mother’s behaviour; I just thought that she didn’t love me,” she explained. Her story underscored one of the webinar’s central arguments: that untreated mental illness rarely affects only the individual. It travels through households and generations, often silently.
Shandukani Taylor Mufamadi, a Pan-African youth ecosystem builder and speaker, challenged participants to fight for the economic empowerment of young women and urged them not to let the conversation end with the webinar, but to carry its energy into communities and make a tangible difference.
Senior traditional leader Kgoshigadi Mamasegare Phasha spoke to the particular pressures faced by leaders within royal households, where the demands of caring for others can obscure one’s own mental health needs. She called on women in positions of authority to share their burdens with one another and to lean on shared lived experiences. Household tensions and internal squabbles within traditional structures, she noted, take a real toll. Her question: “As traditional leaders we check on everyone, but who checks on us?” – resonated through the session as an invitation for vulnerability without shame.
The webinar culminated in the release of a Mental Health Awareness Month and Africa Day Royal Women’s Declaration by SARPN, a formal commitment to break the silence around mental health in rural communities and dismantle stigma through a sustained culture of care. The declaration reaffirmed the Network’s mission to bridge traditional leadership with modern development, ensuring sustainable healthcare access and gender empowerment across all nine provinces. It pledged to empower youth through mentorship and education, grounding the next generation in resilience and royal dignity. “Unified as catalysts for change, we honour our heritage while building prosperous and mentally healthy communities for the future,” the declaration read.
The event closed on a reflective note with a poem rendered by Princess Modjadji Selowe on mental health and liberation – a reminder that healing, too, is an act of sovereignty.
