2 days ago
West community congregate in spirit of Youth Day
The bravery and sacrifices of the 1976 youth in Pretoria were honoured on June 16 as the Pretoria West community gathered to commemorate one of the most defining moments in South Africa.
The community congregated in the spirit of June 21, 1976, when thousands of learners from Atteridgeville and Mamelodi marched in solidarity, demanding the removal of Afrikaans from their classrooms and calling for transformation of the entire Bantu Education system.
The uprising was a reaction to the national resistance that had begun a few days earlier in Soweto on June 16.
Lesedi School Project founder David Mohale organised the event in partnership with Dr WF Nkomo High School to honour the school's former learners and empower the current learners with education and inspiration from the former students.
'We wanted to celebrate and salute former students for their role in the protest against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in schools.'
Survivors of the Atteridgeville protests and former learners of Dr WF Nkomo High School shared their memories and personal stories from the uprising.
Former learner Brenda Masango shared how the riots started in Atteridgeville, reflecting on how bravery and unity defined that day.
'I was in matric that year and we were supposed to write our exams at Hofmeyr in Afrikaans, just after we had started learning the language.'
She said following the uprising in Soweto, they were inspired and wanted to stand in solidarity with their peers.
'After we heard of the massacre of students in Soweto, we were inspired by their bravery and also began organising protest marches that took place on June 21.
'All students came together and we marched to demand the removal of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction,' she said.
Survivor Agnes Ntsoko gave an account of how she ended up in the hospital on that day.
She said she was 14 at the time when she saw learners marching and chanting on the street.
'It was a peaceful march, but when police came, they started shooting at the students. Blood was shed, and students also started fighting back.
'I was standing at a gate when a huge brick hit my face. When I opened my eyes, I was in hospital.'
Another former learner Petunia Seabi-Mathope shared about the strength and resilience of the 1976 youth.
'We were a youth that was very united and held our national identity with high value and pride, and those were some of the things that made us succeed in our fight against apartheid.'
She encouraged the current youth to remember the blood that was shed on the day and honour the lives of those who played a part during the struggle.
'It was not easy to fight for freedom, as today's youth, you need to make sure that you don't lose the freedom that we fought so hard for,' she said.
Hector Peterson's sister, Antoinette Sithole, shared how the uprising that became a national movement began in Soweto on June 16.
'Many of the students were supposed to write preliminary tests on the day. However, over the past days, we had been planning the protest in secret.'
She said learners would meet up at night as though they were studying for the tests, only to discuss their plans to boycott the tests.
'We had planned a peaceful march to convey our message that we didn't want to study in Afrikaans.'
She said that as they marched peacefully, unarmed, with placards that conveyed their messages, they were met with police who fired rubber bullets and then later ammunition at them.
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