POWER SELFIE:
Political elite not doing enough, lament youths
President Zuma poses for pictures with youth during the June 16 commemoration at Orlando Stadium, Soweto, yesterday. Zuma delivered the keynote speech.
SOUTH Africa’s political elite are the main stumbling block to the full realisation of what the youth of 1976 fought and died for.
This view was echoed by young people who attended the Youth Day celebrations at Orlando Stadium in Soweto yesterday as President Jacob Zuma committed the government to ensuring that the June 16 victims did not die in vain.
Yesterday, most roads for government leaders and several political parties led to Soweto as the country commemorated the 40th anniversary of the 1976 June 16 uprising. On the day, many died fighting against Bantu education and the introduction of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in black schools.
Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa led a wreath-laying ceremony at the Hector Pieterson Memorial site in Orlando West. After this, they headed to the stadium where thousands of people from across Gauteng had eagerly waited.
Zuma called on South African youth to defend the gains of the country’s young democracy.
“Many paid a heavy price for it. Many lives were destroyed, many lives were lost,” Zuma said.
He acknowledged that while a lot had been achieved, many South Africans were still to enjoy the fruits of such efforts.
“The government will never rest while there are people who are still yet to enjoy basic services,” he said.
But young people who spoke to Sowetan said the government was not listening to the youth.
Tebogo Manala of Soweto said government leaders had to take young people seriously.
“When people complain, the government tells them about what it has done, not what it had to or what it could have been able to do.
“If they can be serious about youth, Youth Day would be more meaningful,” said Manala.
Thandeka Menzi said she was not admitted at university last year and this year despite having done well in matric. “Many young graduates are jobless and many [young people], like me, are unable to access higher education,” said Menzi.
Last year, students brought universities to a standstill across the country in protests for free higher education and the decolonisation of these institutions’ curriculum.
Zuma said while there were challenges in higher education, the government had made progress in basic education under his tenure. “The government has built 795 schools since 2009 and 78 libraries to improve access to learning,” he said.
He said he was still waiting for the completion of an investigation into the feasibility of free higher education in the country.
Yesterday, Thabethe Street in Orlando West was renamed after Hastings Ndlovu, who also died in the 1976 uprising.