2020 YOUTH MONTH, A MOMENT OF REFLECTION AND RE-CONFIGURING

It has been 44 years since the 1976 Soweto Uprising. It was in the early hours of a winters day when a group of young revolutionaries stood up and demanded that the atrocious Apartheid government’s education policy of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction be abolished. The benchmark of the education policy of the racist and murderous Apartheid regime was the diabolical Bantu Education Act of which was by design an instrument to entrench oppression of the African people and perpetuate their struggles.

16 June 1976 was a moment of bravery and a moment set to define the future. In his poem titled No Serenity the late Professor Keorapetswe Kgosietsile, inspires us to never erase from our minds the cause of freedom lest it becomes a fading memory. Indeed our memories of struggle have refused to die thus till this day we remember the fallen heroes and heroines that defined our cause for freedom, we remember the brave young revolutionaries who sacrificed their own livelihood for the betterment of the African people and the prosperity of South Africa.

In 1995, the first democratic government of South Africa led by the founding father of our democracy, President Nelson Rolihlanhla Mandela (Oh Dalibungwa), declared the 16^th of June as Youth Day, recognising the efforts and sacrifices of young revolutionaries like Emily Sithole, Tsietsi Mashinini, Onkgopotse Tiro and many more young revolutionaries that fought for our freedom. Since the declaration of June 16 as Youth Day, June has by consequence been declared as Youth Month. READ MORE