Issued by Gauteng Provincial Government
15 June 2000
Honourable Speaker
Honourable members
Distinguished Guests
"The atmosphere was tense and expectant, but the pupils continued to sing.
Shortly before 9 a.m. a senior pupil and one of the leaders called for quite and addressed the crowd: 'Brothers and sisters, I appeal to you to keep calm and cool. We have just received a report that the police are coming. Don't taunt them, don't do anything to them. Be cool and calm. We are not fighting.' While hundreds of demonstrators were still marching into Orlando, several police vans and cars drove up to face the main crowd. About 50 police emerged from the vehicles and spread out in an arc facing the pupils.
Despite the tense atmosphere the huge crowd remained calm and well ordered.
... Suddenly a white policeman lobbed a teargas canister into the front of the crowd. Pupils ran out of the smoke dazed and coughing. The crowd retreated slightly, out of range of the teargas smoke, but remained facing the police, waving placards and singing.
A white policeman drew his revolver...A single shot ran out. There was a split second's silence and pandemonium broke out. Children screamed. More shots were fired. At least four pupils fell, and others ran screaming in all directions. ...Whilst some carried the wounded away, others darted out and threw bricks, stones and bottles. More shots rang out. More children fell.
One young student who was standing near the front of the crowd described how, as the police arrived, the students had given 'peace signs' and shouted "peace." As soon as the first shots were fired, the front ranks, mostly young girls, picked up bricks, stones and bottles and pelted the police.
Within minutes a well-ordered demonstration had been turned into a riot." "On the verge of being overwhelmed, despite their weapons, the police retreated towards Orlando East pursued by a stone-throwing and furious crowd. As the police retreated the pupils began to collect the casualties." This is how Alan Brooks and Jeremy Brickhill gave an account of the events of 16 June 1976, in their book - Whirlwind before the storm. On this day 24 years ago, young people engaged in a just, inevitable and necessary protest action against Bantu Education. This was not just a protest action against the education system but against the entire system of apartheid.
Although the struggle for national liberation did not begin on 16 June 1976, what happened on that day made an indelible mark in the history of South Africa. Many of my colleagues from this side of the house can share countless experiences of how they were brutally tortured by those who sought to justify and defend the terrible system of apartheid. These torturers, just like their masters, never believed for a moment that one day we will meet together in institutions like this one to celebrate the victorious 24th anniversary of the courageous struggle by young people. The fact that 24 years after the heroic actions of the youth, and after a sustained and heroic struggle, South Africa is today hailed by the international community as a shining symbol of what humanity is capable of achieving is an encouraging lesson for all our people. Despite protestations by apartheid apologists, some of whom are sitting in opposition benches, historians the world-over are agreed that it was not the act of taking to the streets by the youth of Soweto that resulted in a thousand people dead, but the apartheid government, through one of its repressive machinery at the time -the police.
As we prepare to commemorate National Youth day, I challenge peacetime heroes in our country - some of whom are sitting on the opposition benches to deny these historic truth? Can anyone hide the fact that the apartheid government was essentially responsible for the violent out-break of that peaceful demonstration?
Today, more than ever before, we need the same courage and heroism displayed by the youth of '76, to re-build a new society, so that we may turn this newly found democracy into a true reality. Young people must empower themselves with knowledge through education so that they can improve the skills base of our society. Whereas the '76 generation fought so selflessly to usher in the democratic system we have, the young generation of today must selflessly preserve and defend this revolutionary advance. This must be done against the backdrop of appreciating the changed nature and terrain of our struggle. We therefore urge all young people to take charge of their lives. We call on them to seize the opportunities brought about by the new democratic government with both hands.
Today's youths have possibilities to channel their energies to enhance their chosen course of social development with the support of the government and the full protection of the police. Under conditions of democracy, parents have the highest moral obligation not to sit and watch as a whole new generation of future leaders perishes through drugs, crime, HIV/AIDS, and the result of misdirected violent actions in schools and tertiary institutions. It is in this regard Mr Speaker, that we must not say it is okay or simply unfortunate when children who live their homes to go to schools are found in shebeens. We will continue to seek ways of providing the best quality of education for all our children. They, however, must take the responsibility together with their parents to use these opportunities to advance their skills for a better South Africa.
Under democracy, one for which we have fought for so dearly, one for which many young people have died and many have sacrificed their youth, it is unacceptable that when avenues for constructive engagement are available, many young people resort to destructive actions such as the destruction of school property and burning of cars simply to have their grievances addressed. The new democracy has created many rooms for people to raise and resolve their grievances constructively. It is therefore completely unacceptable for our youth to resort to methods that flagrantly undermine the laws of the country when dealing with grievances, no matter how genuine they may be. In this regard, we condemn without equivocation the recent spate of violent action by the youth in Alexandra, Soshanguve and Springs.
I agree with Mathata Tsedu, deputy editor of the Star when he says: "Given that we enjoy so many freedoms, why is our typical response to frustration the abrogation of responsible citizenship, the violation of others' rights, the destruction of property and blatant disrespect for democratically installed authority?" He goes on to warn of the dangers of the 'previously disadvantaged' excuse that many use to justify their disrespect for the law and the rights of others, their trashing of the environment and other irresponsible behaviour, making a mockery of what our political freedom is supposed to be about. He wondered how we could reconcile our children's vandalism and theft of chairs from their own schools with our criticism of the government for not doing enough for us. The above not withstanding, we remain committed to do everything in our power to help young people to develop themselves to reach their optimum potential to contribute more meaningfully in the reconstruction and development of our country. We have established institutional mechanisms to ensure that all government institutions at all spheres implement the youth development policy.
We now have Leadership learning courses focusing on school sports and cultural activities such as music, drama and art. Gauteng's interdepartmental AIDS programme is now completing its second year of life.
Our Life Skills education in schools is reaching many more children. Radio communication on HIV/AIDS reaches close to 2 million young people daily.
To promote the integration of marginalised youth into the social and economic mainstream, a youth enrichment programme is in place. There is a Sports Science Mobile Unit which focuses on bringing sports science to communities, especially the youth. The past six days have seen a campaign of sports against crime initiated in conjunction with the Department of Public Safety and Liaison, SAPS, Orlando Pirates and NGO's.
An agricultural training programme targeting women, youth and the disabled is in place. Awareness and capacity building programmes aimed at creating awareness and understanding to empower communities through recycling, waste minimization and reduction initiatives are in place. These include environmental awareness programmes and 184 established eco-clubs in schools responsible for the management of community recycling stations at schools.
In partnership with the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), we are targeting 40 schools in Soweto as a pilot project dealing with schools based crime prevention. This Project deals with Four Core Areas, namely Safety on the School Premises, Care and Education on Safety, Environmental Design, and Schools Community Partnership. Lessons learnt from this pilot project will be implemented in other areas in Gauteng, the East Rand, in particular Kwa- Thema, where 7 high schools have been having difficulties in maintaining a culture of learning and teaching for several years.
While a lot has been done, we are aware of the many challenges that we still face. These include:
Unemployed youth should in addition to searching for employment, engage in a range of activities that will not only help them to acquire new skills but which will ensure that they do not languish in the streets. Activities may take the form of:
Together with all stake holders, especially NGO's and the business sector, we should open our doors to young people who seek assistance to conduct work in areas such as I have outlined above.
In a few months time, South Africans will once again be required to go to the polls for the local government elections. We call on the youth to go out there and register as voters and make a difference in their communities.
What speaks the loudest is your vote. Encourage your friends and families to join hands in changing the shape of our local government. June 16 has been declared Youth Day in order to honour and pay tribute to those thousands of students and youth whose blood drenched our motherland in the struggle for freedom.
The challenge is bestowed on young people of today - black and white, poor and rich - to prove themselves worthy of this national honour. The future of our country depends on its young people. They are our nation's biggest asset. We expect of them to be the drivers and champions of this new century. We expect the legacy of the '76 generation to continue to live in the memories of future generations. Equally future generations must be able to refer to the contribution of the generation of the turn of the millennium with pride. The only possibility that exist for young people to leave such a legacy behind is through active participation in the process of transformation in our country. Through the efforts of young people, our dreams of yesterday have become today's reality. So too will our dreams of today come true tomorrow if South Africa can work together with its youth for a better future.
There are two paths in history, that of reaction and that of progress. Our youth must make a choice. Neutrality is impossible. I urge them to choose the path of progress. When we need doctors, lawyers and other professionals in rural areas, hundreds of thousands of young combatants must seek the honour of being chosen. This is the legacy today's youth must leave behind.
It must become common to see every young person with a book under their arm, in a taxi, a bus, a train, because you all want to study, learn and correctly interpret the world in which we live. An uninformed nation has no future.
We call on the young people of Gauteng to:
Thank you