President Cyril Ramaphosa
Programme Directors,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Sihle Zikalala,
Executive Mayor of uMgungundlovu, Councillor Thobekile Maphumulo,
MECs, Mayors and Councillors,
CEO of the NYDA, Mr Waseem Carrim,
CEO of the Youth Employment Service, Dr Tashmia Ismail-Saville,
CEO of the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, Ms Maryana Iskander,
Fellow South Africans,
On this day forty-five years ago, brave young women and men in Soweto and other parts of our country rose up against injustice.
Unarmed, and in their school uniforms, they came out in their numbers, shouting ‘down with Afrikaans.’
They were taking a stand against a cruel and unjust system.
They were rebelling against Bantu Education, which, despite its name, was no education at all.