Johannesburg: Marking 50 years since the Soweto uprising of 16 June 1976, this year's Youth Day commemorations coincide with other major milestones of freedom, underscoring that South Africa's democracy was built across generations. 'In addition to the 50th anniversary of the Soweto uprising, we also mark 70 years since the Women's March of 1956 and 30 years since the adoption of our democratic Constitution in 1996. Together these milestones remind us that freedom was built across generations,' President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday in Johannesburg.
According to South African Government News Agency, the youth of 1976 fought against exclusion; today, South Africa is confronting unemployment, poverty and inequality-challenges the President likened to the broader struggle against the oppressive apartheid regime, in which all generations played a role in the fight for freedom. 'Theirs was the struggle to enter the classroom. Ours is the struggle to ensure that what begins in the classroom does not end in the unemployment queue,' he remarked. President Ramaphosa urged that just as the youth of 1976 refused the limits imposed upon them, South Africans today must refuse a future of diminished possibilities.
President Ramaphosa reminded South Africans that these milestones of freedom were achieved by women who resisted pass laws, by young people who rose up against Bantu Education, and by a Constitution that reflects the views and aspirations of all South Africans. He emphasized the importance of active citizenship, stating, 'The young people of 1976 remind us that freedom is not protected by memory alone. It is protected by active citizenship, by organisation, by discipline, by service and by responsibility.'
The President challenged young people on their role in today's democracy, asking if they dared to change South Africa. He recalled the courage of the youth of 1976, who walked out of their classrooms and into history, refusing to be limited by unjust educational and societal constraints. President Ramaphosa also highlighted the support these young people received from various community structures, emphasizing that they did not stand alone.
Reflecting on the evolution of resistance movements, he mentioned young freedom fighters such as Solomon Mahlangu and movements like Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall, which continued the struggle for change in the democratic era. Because of these generations of struggle, he asserted, South Africa has changed fundamentally, with the Constitution of 1996 guaranteeing the right to basic education.
He urged today's generation to leverage technology, information, and platforms to connect communities, expose injustice, and build enterprises. As the country prepares for the next local government elections, President Ramaphosa called for placing young people at the center of building effective municipalities and encouraged them to register to vote and hold public representatives accountable.
President Ramaphosa concluded by acknowledging the youthfulness of South Africa's population as a source of dynamism and potential productivity, urging this generation to take its place in every part of national life and continue the work for which the youth of 1976 sacrificed so much.