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This Youth Day, the Democratic Alliance Youth pays homage to the young men and women whose bravery made our democracy possible. We will continue to do what it takes to ensure that we build a society of opportunities for all of our young people - in fulfilment of the vision of the youth of 1976.
Youth Day reminds us too of the enormity of the challenges facing South Africa's young generation of today. Poverty amongst the youth remains the ultimate downward spiral, as it both subdues daily quality of life, and represses future opportunities for this young generation and the next.
For this reason, education will continue to hold the key to our country's future. The most important challenge facing our country's leaders over the next decade will be how we act to improve the standards at our schools and tertiary institutions. Under Apartheid, black children were oppressed by a Bantu schooling system that systematically denied them opportunity to progress beyond a certain level, but today young people are similarly restricted and oppressed by a schooling system ranked last out of 40 countries - as surveyed by the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study.
The World Economic Forum ranks South Africa's education system 100th for quality. Zimbabwe, by comparison, is ranked 60 places higher up the list. For mathematics and science we are ranked 49 places behind Zimbabwe at 71st.
The upshot of our woeful education system is a 75 percent youth unemployment rate.
In the most crucial possible area of policymaking, then, government is failing South Africa.
Last year in June, teacher strikes compromised the future of young people. Again this month, SADTU - ironically in Soweto - neglected classes to the expense of students.
Strikes that continue to cripple our education system must be brought to a halt if we are to build a system that provides young South Africans with the opportunities they need to succeed in life.
Likewise, far more needs to be done to ensure that schools are governed and resourced properly. Without properly stocked libraries, computers, text books, and career guidance and disciplinary policies that reflect the leading global trends in education, we will never be able to meet adequately the challenges facing our education system.
Perhaps most disturbing of all is the ANC's disdain for creating a fair, opportunities-based society. Patronage and cronyism remain at the heart of the ANC's approach to education. This approach undermines the accomplishments of our peers of 1976, who fought for educational opportunities for all, not just for a few chosen elite.
We need a new education system in South Africa, and it will take people with the courage of their convictions to build such a system. Still, we must be reminded that as a result of the sacrifices of the past, South Africa today is free and democratic - and for this reason there is no built-in obstacle to the achievement of these goals.
The DA Youth believes in playing its part in the restoration of the spirit of 1976 - in delivering a society where the youth are empowered and educated, and have the freedom to become all they can be.