A leader of the June 16 student uprising has said that 40 years later he feels the class of 1976 has let the youth of today down.
Robbed of his childhood after he was arrested and placed in lengthy periods of solitary confinement aged only 16, Seth Mazibuko told about 100 Rhodes University students on Wednesday night he was sad the struggle for freedom was ongoing.
“When I get angry, when I get bitter, give me water, my days of my youth were abused and taken by apartheid. My bitterness, my anger is because not much has changed in education.”
Speaking off the cuff, Mazibuko said he was not in Grahamstown to give a “comfortable speech” about the political gains made since 1976.
He said if there was talk of a “second revolution” in South Africa, education was still one of the key areas that needed attention.
“Let me make a confession fellow South Africans, particularly young people – forgive us, we sold out.”
Although people were united in their fight against apartheid, Mazibuko said there had been a “lull in leadership” since 1994.
He said politicians were lining their own pockets and people were protesting now because there were no ethical leaders.
According to Mazibuko, instead of leading, politicians were wasting time in parliament, throwing tantrums while people were dying in the townships.
He urged the youth to start a new revolution of ethical leadership.
Mazibuko said the #feesmustfall protests had messed up when the “yellow, red and blue T-shirts” of political parties got involved.
He urged students not to sell out their struggle to politicians, warning history would repeat itself and young leaders would be co-opted and promised positions instead.
Mazibuko, who is now a Soweto-based community worker with the Moral Regeneration Movement, was the youngest student leader to be arrested and imprisoned for leading the 1976 Soweto uprising.
At the age of 15, Mazibuko was deputy president of the South African Student Movement (SASM) before he was arrested, tortured and kept in solitary confinement for more than 200 days shortly after his 16th birthday. He was later sent to Robben Island.
The Soweto school he attended was the first to boycott class in 1976 and others soon followed suit.
He urged politicians, business leaders and others to question their ethics and told students not to give up their fight for a better education for all.
“We have got to carry on with the struggle.” — davidm@dispatch.co.za
1976 youth leader says education fight must continue
Robbed of his childhood after he was arrested and placed in lengthy periods of solitary confinement aged only 16, Seth Mazibuko told about 100 Rhodes University students on Wednesday night he was sad the struggle for freedom was ongoing.
“When I get angry, when I get bitter, give me water, my days of my youth were abused and taken by apartheid. My bitterness, my anger is because not much has changed in education.”
Speaking off the cuff, Mazibuko said he was not in Grahamstown to give a “comfortable speech” about the political gains made since 1976.
He said if there was talk of a “second revolution” in South Africa, education was still one of the key areas that needed attention.
“Let me make a confession fellow South Africans, particularly young people – forgive us, we sold out.”
Although people were united in their fight against apartheid, Mazibuko said there had been a “lull in leadership” since 1994.
He said politicians were lining their own pockets and people were protesting now because there were no ethical leaders.
According to Mazibuko, instead of leading, politicians were wasting time in parliament, throwing tantrums while people were dying in the townships.
He urged the youth to start a new revolution of ethical leadership.
Mazibuko said the #feesmustfall protests had messed up when the “yellow, red and blue T-shirts” of political parties got involved.
He urged students not to sell out their struggle to politicians, warning history would repeat itself and young leaders would be co-opted and promised positions instead.
Mazibuko, who is now a Soweto-based community worker with the Moral Regeneration Movement, was the youngest student leader to be arrested and imprisoned for leading the 1976 Soweto uprising.
At the age of 15, Mazibuko was deputy president of the South African Student Movement (SASM) before he was arrested, tortured and kept in solitary confinement for more than 200 days shortly after his 16th birthday. He was later sent to Robben Island.
The Soweto school he attended was the first to boycott class in 1976 and others soon followed suit.
He urged politicians, business leaders and others to question their ethics and told students not to give up their fight for a better education for all.
“We have got to carry on with the struggle.” — davidm@dispatch.co.za
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