President Thabo Mbeki laid wreaths at the Hector Pieterson memorial site in Soweto on Friday as part of the 30th anniversary of the June 16 1976 student uprisings.
Mbeki was accompanied by Minister in the Presidency Dr Essop Pahad, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa and Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo.
June 16 Foundation representatives and families of the Class of 1976 also laid wreaths.
Head of the June 16 Foundation, Zweli Sizani, encouraged the youth of today to face up to challenges just like the youth of 1976.
”The young people today face challenges like unemployment and HIV/Aids, but if they don’t stand up and fight against them they cannot win,” said Sizani.
Hundreds of people had gathered at the site in Orlando West, Soweto, to celebrate the day when school children launched protests against apartheid education, which left scores of them dead at the hands of the police.
The group earlier gathered at the Morris Isaacson high school where the day’s programme started.
Following the wreath-laying ceremony the crowd moved to the FNB Stadium where Mbeki was expected to address the crowd in the afternoon. — Sapa