Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande
Professor Chris Nhlapo and CPUT Executive Management;
Professor Ahluwalia and the HIGHER HEALTH family;
Professor Crain Soudien, Professor Sibusiso Sifunda and members of the HSRC study team;
Our Student and Staff communities;
Esteemed guests;
Members of the media;
Ladies and gentlemen
I greet you all this morning two days away to the 45th Youth Day commemoration, which will be celebrated under the theme linked to Charlotte Maxeke’s 150th birthday anniversary, “The Year of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke: Growing youth employment for an inclusive and transformed society”
For many of our generation and some of the younger compatriots the memory of 16 June 1976 burning fresh in our minds as if it happened yesterday.
Forty-five years ago, thousands of students around the country – from Soweto to KwaMashu, to Gugulethu, to Port Elizabeth, to Makhado – rose up against oppression.
In their school uniforms, their fists in the air, and their faces bright with the fire of resistance, they confronted the heavily armed police singing: “Senzeni na? What have we done?”
Today, we meet to release the results of a social impact study on yet another oppressive challenge, this time, a health pandemic – to the youth of our country.