JUNE 16, 1976
Issued by: North West Communication Service
AN ADDRESS BY NORTH WEST PREMIER POPO MOLEFE AT THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY RALLY OF JUNE 16, 1976 VRYBURG SHOWGROUNDS 16 JUNE 1996.
Master of Ceremonies, Members of Senate, Members of Parliament, Members of the Executive Council, Members of the Provincial Legislature, Mayors, Dikgosi, Councillors, Honoured Guests, Compatriots.
I am honoured to be the one to convey to you the greetings and abiding love of our dear President. I am pleased to convey to you the good wishes of the democratic government and the felicitations of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and all Cabinet Ministers.
Twenty years ago, on this day, a dark cloud of grief, intermingled with tearsmoke, hung over many black townships and villages of South Africa. The air was filled with sounds of gunfire, the wailing of sirens of police vehicles and ambulances, a widespread gnashing of the teeth and the sickening sound of the baton as it hit a young body.
Many people died. The victims were black children whose fault was to challenge the racist system of Bantu education.
Africa wept at the genocide of the product of her loins. Mothers screamed in anguish and bewilderment at the racist murder of children. Fathers hung their heads in helplessness, unable to understand how any government could be so callous as to unleash its well-armed police force and kill defenceless protesting children.
Today we are assembled here to preserve the memory of the known and unknown victims of the brutality of that day. We join other freedom loving South Africans, led by President Mandela's government, in writing on stone the memory of the martyrs whose deaths contributed to the realization of the national dream of liberation.
We celebrate the courage and the sacrifice of those who, armed only in their school uniforms, confronted the well-armed state machinery that had subjugated their ancestors, parents, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters for hundreds of years.
So that we do not forget, on this holiday we hold these assemblies, big and small, to confirm our collective agreement with their id bring about a better world in which children are born into freedom, equality and justice.
We rededicate ourselves, as we had been doing since 1977, to restore the dignity that has been trampled upon by racism, tribalism and sexism.
Fundamentally, we use the Youth Day to commit the government and society to take the youth and their plight seriously and to do all in our power to ensure that this important sector is never again ignored or brutalized.
We say out of this terrible past, must emerge young men and women who are capable and willing to participate in the building of a winning nation. If we can sufficiently empower our children and develop their creative capacity, then we shall have erected a living memorial to the cause which the victims of June 16, 1976 died for.
CONFRONTING THE LEGACY OF APARTHEID
The events of that day marked the beginning of the intensification of the war against apartheid, in which the youth played both the offensive and defensive roles.
With extraordinary courage and dedication, they grappled with the ugly dragon of forced minority rule. In doing battle with the monster, they suffered casualties and fatalities, but they emerged the victors on April 27, 1994.
The democratic dispensation which was the product of their struggles, places many new challenges for the youth sector.
After marching through the dark midnight of deprivation and discrimination, they have arrived in a society which is still characterized by both positive and negative features.
Thousands of black children are victims of poverty, joblessness, homelessness and with inadequate access to education, health and opportunities for self-development.
These conditions are the legacy of apartheid. The ugliest feature of the legacy is the lack of the requisite skills that are necessary for economic growth, international competitiveness and equity.
It is the view of this government that none of the intentions to deliver basic needs are capable of attainment unless youth development forms part and parcel of the agenda on national reconstruction and development.
With the majority of our population consisting of people aged between the ages of 17 and 34 years, it is logical that development must be about and for this group.
In this regard, the government believes that in as much as the youth were central to the struggle for their own liberation, so must they continue to take the initiative as the soldiers and activists of the process of youth development.
It is with this understanding that today in Pietersburg, the President is announcing the composition of the National Youth Commission. Among its duties, the Commission is going to co-ordinate and promote the formulation of youth policy, to co-ordinate government programmes, to monitor the effect of policy and legislation on youth and to serve as a link between government and civil institutions that address youth matters.
As you would know our province also has a Youth Commission, whose members have been responsible for the organizing of these celebrations. More importantly, the provincial government has taken measures aimed at ensuring that youth development remains a priority in the transformation of our society.
Chaired by Moeti Moiloa, it is located in the Office of the Premier as part of the political and executive leadership roles of that office.
About 250 youths from different organizations assembled in the Parliament at Mmabatho to formulate, together with Commissioners, all legislators and heads of departments, a youth declaration that is going to lead to the formulation of a provincial youth development policy.
This is part of our strategic objective of ensuring that law making and policy formulation, as far as it impacts on youth, reflect the stated commitment of the government to the attainment of the socio-economic aspirations of the youth in the province.
As part of the offensive to ensure youth participation in reconstruction and development, all youth organizations must link up and work with this Commission, and other structures at the local government level.
RECONCILIATION AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
During the struggle for liberation, the apartheid government determined the agenda and the content of that struggle. We reacted to a particular situation because we were denied the opportunity of influencing matters that affected our lives.
Having defeated that system and brought in our desired type of government, we must ensure that we remain united around the common perspective of building a new and winning nation.
We must understand that we have not yet accomplished the task of national reconciliation, in terms of which our common destiny is not defined in racial or ethnic terms.
Therefore, all young people, black and white, are faced with the challenge of acting as a collective in pursuing the national objective of true reconciliation, nation-building, reconstruction and development without which we cannot build a winning nation.
Fundamentally, we need to fully grasp the fact that it is not consistent with the new South Africa nor in the interests of the economy to continue to have separately allocated resources such as schools, parks and recreational centres.
Also, those of us who are committed to the fundamental transformation of society to attain the noble goals of non-racialism and non-sexism, must act in a disciplined fashion, without employing lawlessness, to achieve those national goals.
GIVING YOUTH DEVELOPMENT A PRIORITY
There is nothing that demonstrates the evil face of apartheid than the extent to which it has sabotaged youth empowerment by denying black children access to quality education and opportunities for self-advancement.
As a government that is committed to youth empowerment through skills development, we have set up nine community learning centres in conjunction with SANLAM, where adults and pupils can obtain matric and learn new skills in leadership, entrepreneurship, business administration and agriculture, among others.
The learning centres are in Vryburg, Ga-rankuwa, Hammanskraal, Leeudoringstad, Mmabatho, Rustenburg and Potchefstroom. More centres are going to be established in many other areas as we secure sponsorhsip.
To address adequately the ugly phenomenon of children without shelter, we have been involved in discussion with business and non-governmental organizations to assist in the funding of the Thakaneng Street-children Project, which is aimed at integrating homeless children back into society.
As a start, the first children's centre is up and running at Potchefstroom, where children are not merely given handouts, but are learning lifeskills that are aimed at their eventual contribution to the building of a better caring society.
And very soon, we will be launching a project that is aimed at helping marshals to form a construction co-operative, where they are going to learn skills and further their academic education. We will forever be indebted to the United Nations Development Programme for this.
PROMOTING SOCIAL MORALITY
On the broader social plane, our national goal of attaining high levels of development will forever be held ransom by criminals unless we sensitize young people of the need to combat this disease.
The former rulers of this country have encouraged the development of a culture that feeds criminal behaviour and little respect for other people's possessions.
It is necessary to activate all youth structures to join in the National Crime Prevention Strategy. In particular, we must ensure that young people become the ears and eyes of the police and communities.
By united action, we must clear our society of criminals who, among other things, terrorize young girls, rape our women, abuse children, steal other people's property, sell stolen goods, hijack cars and in general make the lives of the vulnerable and defenceless miserable. We need to root out this evil with all ruthlessness.
CENSUS 1996
In October this year, for the first time in the life of the democratic government, a national census is going to be conducted. The purpose of counting our citizens is aimed at facilitating reconstruction and development planning, without which realistic budget allocation is difficult.
For instance, without knowing exactly how many children are there, and where they live, it is difficult to plan where classrooms and clinics are to be built.
The provincial government would like to make an appeal to all young people to stand up and be counted in October this year.
In conclusion, I would like to encourage all young people to persist in the struggle for democracy, peace and development.
In this regard, we must educate the people as a whole to treat the government as their own, a tool by which they can contribute to the common effort to achieve a better life for all on a sustainable basis.
We, as young people, should not underestimate the challenges that face us as a nation that has just emerged from a tyrannical history.
Those of us who had been oppressed, insulted and deprived, should not succumb to the temptation to enter the new age with hate and bitterness.
The order of the day is not lawlessness and bitterness, but reconstruction, development, education and nation-building.
That is what the class of 76 fought and died for
THANK YOU!!!