(Cornell Tukiri/Anadolu Agency)
South Africa has a long history of activism towards a free and equal society. History has proven multiple times that to achieve a common goal, standing together as a collective is crucial. This is why June commemorates the significance of youth agency in South Africa.
As popularly known, 16 June 1976 is the day that the Soweto Uprisings took place. This was the day in which the black youth of South Africa stood as a collective to protest against the apartheid government’s oppressive education system. It is also the day that the racist government showed the rest of the world how ruthless it was when it killed and wounded many black students.
Today, it has been simplified to (1) a protest by black students against Afrikaans being the medium of instruction in the school curriculum; (2) a wreath-laying day by the government for media display; (3) a costume day for staff members of corporate organisations; and (4) a day off from work and school for some.
These activities and attitudes towards 16 June in the 21st century have created a distorted image of South African history, one which makes it easy to forget about the oppression, racism, brutality, violence and killings of black students by the apartheid government. Up until this day, the mass murder of black learners, those who succumbed to serious injuries, the families of those who suspiciously went “missing,” and those who survived that day have not received reparations.
Adding to this, the depiction of 16 June 1976 through existing records and school curricula does an excellent job of protecting the apartheid government through inaccurate storytelling. We are instead taught that the activism of the young black schoolchildren of 1976 is the reason we get to enjoy the benefit of the “reformed” education system. This is intentionally done to make young people forget that black consciousness and activism are the only answers to fighting oppression.
Nevertheless, one cannot deny that some forms of freedom fought for by the youth of 1976 have been obtained. For example, black people have the right to attend schools of their choice. But the quality of education continues to depend on whether you are rich or poor. Furthermore, regardless of your economic status, the school system and its curriculum remain colonial by refusing to be questioned or challenged.
The school system still trains the minds of young people to occupy their socially arranged place in society in terms of race and class. The system continues to subtly silence the consciousness of previously disadvantaged people by either blurring the history of their forefathers or by giving them an extension of the Bantu education system that is evident in all black public schools today. For those lucky enough to escape such a system, tertiary education is where they are exposed (for the first time) to activism and the multiple forms of oppression of black people — student hunger, unaffordable tuition fees, Eurocentrism and structural racism — which ensures that most of them remain at the bottom no matter how hard they work.
These are the same conditions that ignited the spirit of activism among the young people of 1976 that young black people find themselves in today. The same system fought against in the 1970s continues to be sophisticatedly executed in a way that reminds society (consciously and subconsciously) who is considered human and who is seen as non-human. This was and is easily detectable through who gets the best out of the education system, who gets the best service delivery, who gets the best treatment, who gets easy and abundant access to resources and opportunities, and whose mother tongue is considered supreme.
It is on these grounds that commemorating 16 June 1976 must go beyond seeing “Happy Youth Day” on our television screens. Fully commemorating and honouring the sacrifice of the people of 16 June 1976 will require a real commitment and responsibility by the youth of today to fight the depoliticisation that is subtly imposed by the post-apartheid government through its neoliberal policies and its poor commitment to enriching and restoring the lives of black people. It is only when we begin to be intentional about black consciousness that we can begin to honour the sacrifice of those who died during the student uprising. The current quality of life of most South Africans and the poor actions of the government are a reminder that the fight and struggle are nowhere near the end.
Young people are beginning to realise that for their circumstances to change, it is up to them. The fight against a more advanced form of imperialism will require energy. They must refuse to be made to believe that South Africa is a democratic country where everyone has equal rights and freedom. Youth agency must continue to ripen until we receive a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
The undying spirit of activism against racism, exclusion, oppression, mental enslavement and neocolonial forms of silencing is the only way to change things. Young people must not be afraid to retaliate against structural racism. This would honour the youth of 1976. The fight is not over.
Oyisa Sondlo-Mzileni is a PhD sociology candidate at Nelson Mandela University.