The South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996 mandates that secondary school learners, who are members of the Representative Council for Learners, should be part of school governance through participation in school governing bodies. But they are often not afforded a full opportunity to participate in crucial decisions by the adult members of governing bodies, directly or indirectly. I explore the participation of learners in school governance by means of a literature review and em pirical investigation using a qualitative approach. The findings are presented in terms of the role of learners in the school governing bodies, learners’ involvement in decision making and in curriculum issues, and the role of governing bo dies in promoting democracy in the school and in the wider South African society. Findings suggested that spaces should be created for learners to participate sufficiently in SG B s in order to allow them to exercise their right to participation, thus engaging fruitfully in deliberations dealing with school governance. This would in turn lead to social justice and there would be a great potential for their voice to be heard. They would in turn engage fruitfully in dialogues as they felt includ ed in debates and decision-m aking processes. Silencing the voice of learners, implicitly or explicitly, means that the issues of social justice and dem ocracy are not taken into consideration in SGBs.