Today is June 16, a day ranking high in the hierarchy of days of heroism of the South African people’s struggle against apartheid, colonialism and racial oppression in general. It was on this day nearly 50 years ago, in 1976, that what was meant to be a peaceful, well-organised protest by schoolchildren, ostensibly against the use of Afrikaans as a means of instruction, turned violent when trigger-happy apartheid police mowed down protesters.
The story has been told a million times, and should never wear off, as a nation we dare not forget or fail generations born after the brave revolutionaries in school uniform’s sacrifices that dragged the oppressed African majority to the doorstep of freedom. Without June 16, 1976, we would probably still be waiting to join the global family of nations, free to pursue our collective and individual dreams without hindrance solely based on the colour of our skins.
We are free because, walking in the footsteps of those who took up the fight in the frontier wars, the Zulu-Boer war, Isandlwana, the Bambatha Rebellion, Sharpeville, Langa and the many other heroic battles our people fought to be free, the schoolchildren, with only stones for missiles and dustbin lids for shields, took the fight to the enemy armed to the teeth.
The question today is whether the youth are taking up the baton and running with it in this never-ending quest for the advancement of our nation.
Sadly, the freedom won with the help of the 1976 cohort and subsequent generations has not yielded quite the fruit many had in mind as they fought for our freedom.
Today hundreds of thousands of young people are in the throes of such social ills as drug addiction, joblessness and hopelessness.
Thousands leave places of training and higher education such as universities to join the endless queues of the unemployed millions with little to no hope for the dawn of a better day on the horizon.
Even in the darkest hole of despair, there is always hope, and it is with that belief that we assert that not all is lost.
The next question then becomes: what is to be done?
It is time to recentre so that we are in a position to recalibrate the dream that fuelled the undying yearn for freedom.
With the dawn of democracy, many of us, the majority even, have abdicated responsibilities such as guiding our children to choose not the easy way out but ways that will help us solve our problems as a nation.
There is video of a lecture by former president Thabo Mbeki talking about how as a chancellor of a university, he witnessed at a graduation ceremony 90% of the students graduating with distinctions in Religious Studies, while a negligible number did the same in taxing pursuits such as science and maths.
He lamented that the students had sought the easy way out, nothing that was going to solve the problems of unemployment and lack of skills required if we are to make this freedom thing work.
It is time, once again to roll up our sleeves, especially the youth, with -proper guidance of course.
