As we celebrated this year’s Soweto uprising, and those remarkable student leaders who dedicated their lives for this freedom and democracy that we are celebrating today, we should remind ourselves of the relentless efforts of those who fought for liberation, of the many men and women who took up arms and courted imprisonment, bannings, torture and death on behalf of the oppressed masses. This is a chapter in our history that exposed the brutality and thoughtlessness of the trigger-happy apartheid regime.
It is this brutality that worked to mobilise thousands of young people across the length and breadth of our country behind the struggle against white minority rule.
The activities of June 16 1976 also assisted in mobilising a sizable portion of the international community against the crime of apartheid.
There can be no doubt that it was generations of young people who made the dream of a democratic South Africa a reality, led by Tsietsi Mashinini and Onkgopotse Tiro.
However, when celebrating this month of young people, we should have a deeper look at the many problems facing young people, in particular black youth.
Young people in this Godforsaken country bear the burden of the majority of the nation’s socio-economic challenges such as unemployment, lack of access to quality and decolonised education, inadequate health care, living in abject poverty and being socially marginalised.
These are among the many challenges that prevent many young people from contributing in the social, political and economic life of the nation.
It is with a throbbing and bleeding heart that I have to commemorate a June 16 when young women and children are being molested, raped, abducted and killed in numbers, while on the other hand, young people continue to fight the thunders of their struggle such as racism, classism, capitalisation, alienation, exploitation, and police brutality.
It is a dishonour to continue to commemorate and celebrate the colossal and heroic deeds of the youth of ’76 uprising as this generation, when we are jobless.
Young people’s futures looks bleak, filled with promises of a better life while they continue to remain external to socio-economic activities of this country and our government continues to be detached, supercilious and predatory towards youth.
Our government remains predatory and alien, but in a new though equally repressive configuration wielded by new black elites.
The state has become an instrument by which certain black elites enriched themselves at the expense of its youth and citizens.
Moreover, since the dawn of democracy, the struggle has been about self-enrichment for those who are in power for material survival but not for the empowerment of young people in democratic government.
It’s been 42 years since the Soweto uprising, yet the youth continue to live on a lonely island of abject poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
And 24 years later in democracy, black youth still suffer in the corners of our society and find themselves as exiles in their own country.
Indeed, our government has failed young people and unlike many young people who remain hopeful for a better future, I am troubled no end by the stark contrast between the benefits and promises that freedom brings with it and the harsh reality that many young people face in their daily lives.
What’s there worth celebrating when government has failed to ensure that youth and skills development becomes a critical component in national development.
Today, you have failed to march forward with more vigour and determination to succeed in pushing back the frontiers of poverty and creating more opportunities for our youth, black youth.
What’s there worth celebrating today, when you have failed to represent us, when today you have failed to make youth development your top priority, and when you have failed to realise the noble dream of 1976 to provide free, quality and decolonised education?
What’s there worth celebrating when you have failed to address the challenges of empowerment and skills development, failed young South African graduates who yearn for decent jobs and to earn decent wages?
When you have failed to contribute to our economy that is supposed to grow and produce decent jobs, when your education system has failed to produce more world-class young black engineers, artisans, farmers, tailors, economists, etc to lead us to our developmental aspirations.
What’s there worth celebrating when 24 years of democracy has shown that your approach to development has failed to meet the expectations of young people?
In the past 24 years, I have seen the poverty of Duncan Village and the wealth of Beacon Bay in East London.
In King William’s Town, I have seen jobless youth of Ginsberg Township and the prosperous residents of Kaffrarian Heights in King William’s Town.
In the past 23 years, I have seen the slums of Alexandria and the opulence of Sandton, while the youth continue to be subjected to live in abject poverty.
What’s there worth celebrating when I have seen the faces of young, disillusioned, unemployed and poor graduates in Mdantsane and the quiet wealth of Gonubie and Summerstrand.
The greatest impediment to the realisation of skills development and employment is the lack of selfless, non-corrupt and committed government leaders who have contributed immensely to the sociopolitical and economic predicaments facing South Africa and its youth today.
It’s sad.
This is a rich nation that is full of resources but its young people are still living far below the lines of poverty and leaders of the ruling party in particular are indulging themselves in lavish lifestyles, smoking Cuban cigars and drinking expensive whiskies at the expense of the masses.
The generation of Tsietsi Mashinini made its voice of resistance to apartheid heard, and was determined to be listened to.
Thus, there is a need for this generation to wage a resistance towards the current government, in an attempt to challenge the balance of power, inequality, the high unemployment rate and access to mainstream economic activities.
But until then, our our struggle will be the same. We have nothing worth celebrating but to respect and commemorate that historical event that shaped the future of this country...