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Juxtaposing 1976 and 2026
Yesterday, 16 June 2026 marked 50 years since the Soweto uprising in 1976 which sought to set the wheels in motion for a revolutionised South Africa that would not be marred by racial trials and tribulations. The apartheid government is historically and politically known for a multitude of injustices and remains heavily referenced in conversations about the make-up of South Africa.
The mandate of the Soweto uprising, celebrated as the “youth of 1976” was to lift a systematic veil on their education, eliminating the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in schools. Police unleashed violence on school pupils in what was a historic bloodbath that saw many lives lost. The 16th of June came to be commemorated as a public holiday.
Bantu education
“Bantu education” as it was known was a curriculum that was forced down the throat of black pupils in black schools. It was a convenient tool in the broader social engineering project that apartheid essentially was because it purported to deliver a subpar education to black children to churn out workers for the oppressive machine.
Black schools were not a site of education but rather a conveyor belt of subjects designed for servitude at the mercy of white superiority. The 1970’s were indeed the peak of liberation movements such as the Black Conscious Movement founded by Steve Biko and the crop of black intellectuals of that milieu.
The iconic picture of a dying Hector Peterson being carried through the rough and tumble of running away from firing police squarely characterizes the legacy scene.
50 Years since
Today however the battle for the youth is not against a racially oppressive regime but rather deteriorating governance. 32 years later after attaining the freedom that was so hard fought for, injustice is now wrapped in doors in economic participation being shut in the face of the bulk of the youth.
Young people have to contend with a different colour of distress with unemployment and a lack of access to opportunities at the top of the list. Various dysfunctional coping mechanisms such as drugs and alcohol consumption, chronic gambling addiction and prostitution then seep in to keep the idle mind stimulated. A country that does not prepare its youth adequately is setting itself up for failure because it sooner or later will have to manage a citizenry that has not modelled itself after desirable ideals. A population of degenerates.
The current generation of young people can learn a thing of two from their predecessors in mobilising themselves for a worthy cause, initiative and laying the groundwork for future generations.
