COMMEMORATING 41 YEARS OF BITTER STRUGGLE

        youth of 1976 protesting against the use of Afrikaans in school

Today we are celebrating the youth of 1976 who took part in the liberation struggle. Students from various black schools in Soweto led a protest where they fought against the use of Afrikaans and English as the medium of instruction and learning at schools. On June 16 1976, students came in their numbers at Orlando stadium where they voiced out their stance for the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.

The march resulted in the death of a number of students who participated in the rally. Among the students who were shot death by the police were a 15 year old Hastings Ndlovu and a 13 year old Hector Pieterson who were shot at Orlando West high school. Today we are remembering the lives of those students who fought for their right to quality education.

Recently university students led a protest movement that began in October 2015 in response to fee increment at South African Universities. These protests escalated to almost all the universities in our country. The fees must fall movement became stirred violence between the police and the police that were stationed in various institutions. This movement has been going on for 3 years now and students are not backing up until their goal is achieved which is free quality education in all universities.

The #feesmustfall movement left many people wondering whether are we still living in a democratic country or not. Seeing all the violence between students and police reminds us of a very bitter struggle of Soweto Uprising in 1976. The youth of today should be inspired and have courage since this is long journey that they chose to embark on.  It’s a battle that needs to be won for generations to come.

Today marks 41 years since the youth of 1976 stood up to the racist tyranny in their schools. We commemorate their courage, bloodshed and torture this youth had to through in standing up for a black community. Most people wear school uniforms and march in remembrance of what happened 41 years ago in Soweto. Some visit the Hector Pieterson Museum to honour their struggle.