South Africa’s Soweto Uprising, sign of youth architects of history: Op-Ed

Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba

Alamy Photo

The turning point in the history of both Türkiye and South Africa was due to the revolutions driven by young people.

Türkiye’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was part of the revolutionary movement of intellectuals, Young Turks, which inspired the founding values of the Turkish Republic.

Ataturk’s leadership included language reforms that ensured the Turkish people had their own, easy to understand language based on their unique Turkish identity.

In the same way the South African youth of 1976 determined the future of South Africa when they were killed protesting against the apartheid government’s decision for the usage of a language that did not belong to the native people, Afrikaans, as a language of instruction in schools.

The decision proceeded from the apartheid government’s Bantu Education Act 47 of 1953, later named the “South African segregation law”, which was basically aimed at limiting the education of black children so that would only assume inferior roles in society.

The fatal 1976 youth protests in Soweto echoed the words of one of South Africa’s struggle leaders, Chief Albert Luthuli that, “The essence of development along your own lines is that you must have the right to develop, and the right to determine how you develop”.

What the apartheid government was trying to do was to take away the right to development from the black people of South Africa, and further decide on how they were to be underdeveloped, and ultimately paralyse and assassinate their futures. One of the first children to be shot in on that day was 12 year old Hector Peterson; the photo of his lifeless body would later become a steady symbol of the June 16 protests, also called the “Soweto Uprising”.

Amid mounting pressure against its laws, the apartheid government went on to murder young revolutionists within the country such as Steve Biko, Tsietsi Mashinini, Solomon Mahlangu, amongst others. The apartheid government raided refugee camps and offices of exiled anti-apartheid activists in inter alia Angola, Belgium, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Zambia and Zimbawe.

However, the bloodshed was not in vain. International and nationwide resistance against the brutal and suppressive laws kept the apartheid government on its toes from then onwards leading to the establishment of a new South Africa in 1994.

South Africa today annually commemorates 16 June 1976, as “Youth Day” in honour of the youth who stood up against the apartheid government and laid down their lives fighting for freedom and the right to equal education.

The South African Government sought to ensure that the entire month of June is acknowledged as “Youth Month” each year, to highlight the important role the current generation can play as they continue to build a nation that encourages dialogue, fosters social cohesion and celebrates its heritage.

This year marks the 47th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising, and South Africa’s National Youth Day and Youth Month is commemorated under the theme “Accelerating Youth Economic Emancipation for a Sustainable Future”.

Today, the South African youth have taken up the baton to further the dream of the youth of 1976, to ensure that history does not repeat itself; eradicating stereotypes and primitive racist traditions so that future generations find the world in a more habitable state.

In addressing the challenges faced by South African youth, the South African Government has initiatives in place to ensure its young people are included in the country’s sustainable economic activities. Some of these initiatives include the Expanded Public Works Programme, Community Works Programme and the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, NYDA Grant Programme, Youth Pipeline Development Programme, amongst others.

The youth play an important role in the development and sustainability of States and the advancement of a better life for all in succeeding generations.

It is important that we not only leverage on the characteristics of youth to secure the future but to also embrace what is beneficial to stay young at heart; that is remaining resilient, bold, humorous, curious, empathetic, courageous, creative, adaptable, and joyous.

South Africa is a country that is young at heart, not because of the number of its years since Freedom from Apartheid, but due to the collective personality of its people - the vibrant rainbow nation where people of all races live together in harmony.

We regard it a privilege to honour our young struggle heroes, such as 12-year-old Hector Peterson, whose death remains an important mark in the history and description of our nation.

* Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba is the South African Ambassador to Türkiye.