On June 16, 1976 a day that began like any other, in Apartheid South Africa, a group of approximately 20 000 young South Africans, took to the streets of Soweto with the intention of peacefully protesting against being taught in Afrikaans- a language forced upon them. Before the group of defiant youth could reach their destination, the Orlando Stadium, they were intercepted by a heavily armed police force. Despite this the crowd remained peaceful, not so much as lifting a stone. All they did was to continue singing and waving their placards. Even though the police force was not presented with an imminent threat they began to shower the group of youth with tear gas canisters, in an attempt to disperse the peaceful crowd. It was at this point that the formerly calm situation escalated into frenzy, as the first, of many, gun shots was fired, and the group of youth turned their backs and ran in defence- the gunshots continued.
The class of 1976 fought for the South Africa we live in today, with many not being able to enjoy the spoils of their labour. These are the youth-- young people who had the courage to fight for what is right in the face of danger-- that make one proud to be a young South African today. In view of this one has to look at the youth of today and ponder “what are the youth of today fighting for?”
Some may ask, in a democratic South Africa why would the youth have to fight for anything when the fighting has been already done? That is a valid question, and given the bloodshed that happened in 1976 we can all agree that enough fighting has been done. Let us look at this from a different angle: the class of 1976 laid the foundation, the most important component of any structure, and the youth of today have yet to build upon that solid foundation.
The youth of today do not want to get their hands dirty; they expect that solutions will fall from heaven like manna. The class of 1976 found it in themselves to go for what they wanted and never expected for their situations to solve through the sweat and toil of others, they felt that “if not me then who?” they got down on their knees and laid a foundation for the youth of today to build upon and the youth of today have yet to utilise that foundation to build upon. The youth of today are happy to bask in the victories of others.
We have witnessed the influence and power of the youth in the Middle-East who have realised that the change that they want will only be realised if they find it in themselves to labour for it. The youth in the Middle-East, like the class of 1976 had no foundation on which to build, so they went and built it for themselves.
There are certain youth politicians who assume to be continuing the work of the class of 1976, yet in reality seem to have an agenda of their own, which is contrary to the foundations laid by the heros of 1976. What the youth must realise is that these politicians are not the custodians of all solutions, those with solutions go against the status quo and develop a positive way in which to solve problems, without the influence of others. The problems that the youth face are numerous and will only be solved when they find it in themselves and stop depending on others.
A recent survey by the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) found that 68% of youth see themselves having a better career in South Africa than anywhere else in the world, as encouraging as this may be, many do not realise that hard-work is needed in order to realise that future. This is because many youth think that 1994 everyone was given a licence to relax and take up a laissez-faire attitude.
The youth need to draw inspiration from the youth of 1976, and realise that they did most of the work and all that needs to be done now is to build on the work they did. The youth of today need to actively work for the kind of South Africa they want to live in, the kind of South Africa that they will raise their kids in.
The foundation has been laid by the youth of 1976, now your job as the youth of today is to build upon that foundation. If you do not, who will?
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