“Boom, bang, ka-boom!”
As a peaceful protest is met with gunshot sounds and the crowd’s cries echo through the air of Soweto. It is June 16, 1976 , the first day of the Soweto Uprising. Inspired by the Black Consciousness Movement, Tsietsi Mashinini led tens of thousands of high school students who marched out of school, defying the apartheid government mandate that they study in Afrikaans. Subsequently, the United Nations condemned apartheid as a crime against humanity. Thereafter, we came to recognize the 16th of June as a day to reflect on the massacre of school children, commemorate these heroes and remind ourselves to not give up.
Irrespective of the casualties that were suffered by the 1976 youth, our streets are still painted red with homicide, suicide, and unemployment (amongst many social ills).
The youth unemployment rate in 2019 was 58%, in the year 2020 it was 60% and in the year 2021 it is 74%. President Cyril Ramaphosa claimed “everything that government did contributes towards improving the lives of young people”. He further said that he will launch a range of measures to address youth unemployment on Youth Day, to create opportunities, enhance skills development and support young entrepreneurs.
The youth unemployment rate in 2019 was 58%, in the year 2020 it was 60% and in the year 2021 it is 74%. President Cyril Ramaphosa claimed “everything that government did contributes towards improving the lives of young people”. He further said that he will launch a range of measures to address youth unemployment on Youth Day, to create opportunities, enhance skills development and support young entrepreneurs.
Our present has an unwaivering ability to cloud our hope for the future, but for the sake of imagination, perhaps the presidential address will show us new ways to handle the situation at hand, another way of moving through life. However, the onus is not only on the government to create a positive social change and repair the dreams that were cut short.
As South Africans we need to make a habit of seeing the abundant opportunities we have today that the 1976 youth sacrificed their lives for. Let’s dream, create endless opportunities for ourselves and choose the alternative path which will take a significant effect. Of course it is not easy, but we too need take a stand at any given platform and let our voices and actions be heard. In order to wipe away the grey and gloom, we need to march relentlessly towards the future we desire. Be vessels that will launch humanity to greater heights.
Written by: Thokozane Mkhwanazi, NWU BA Law Alumna, Wits LLB student.