South Africa’s National Youth Day, also known as Youth Day or Soweto Day, is a day in which South Africans commemorate the lives of those that were lost during the Soweto Uprising in 1976. This year marks the 48th anniversary since the commemoration that took place on the 16th of June in Soweto (South-Western townships), a township near Johannesburg. Youth Day celebrates the young people who marched in protests during the Soweto Uprising – a major event in the battle against apartheid.
In 1976, the Regional Director of Bantu Education, J.G. Erasmus, mandated that African schools introduce Afrikaans as a new teaching subject, despite it being considered “the language of the oppressor” by many during apartheid. According to reports, Punt Jason, the then Deputy Minister of Bantu Education, stated, “I have not consulted the African people on the language issue and I’m not going to. An African might find that ‘the big boss’ spoke only Afrikaans or spoke only English. It would be to his advantage to know both languages.”
This led to an uproar of at least 20 000 students marching to the Orlando Stadium in Soweto for a rally to protest this new division. Police officers tried to stop them, but the students resisted and were met with fierce brutality, and even death. The official figures from the government estimated that almost 200 people were killed. However, other sources estimated a much higher number, indicating that almost 700 people were killed during the protest and its repercussions.
The protest was led by the Soweto Students’ Representative Council’s (SSRC) Action Committee with support from the Black Consciousness Movement and teachers from the schools in Soweto. Tsietsi Mashinini, known by his nicknames, “Comrade Big Brother” and “McDonald”, was a pivotal figure during the uprising who led students from Morris Isaacson High School to join other students who walked from Naledi High School. They began marching, only to find that police officers blocked their route, resulting in a reroute.
Eventually reaching Orlando High School, students sang and waved banners with slogans such as, “Down with Afrikaans”, “Viva Azania” and “If we must do Afrikaans, Vorster must do Zulu”. Viva Azania translates to Long Live Azania, which was a term used by anti-apartheid activists, symbolising solidarity, hope and a vision for a society free from colonial and apartheid oppression. Furthermore, “Vorster”, refers to the South African apartheid politician and prime minister of South Africa, Balthazar Johannes “B.J.” Vorster.
He was an advocate of apartheid who oversaw Nelson Mandela’s life imprisonment for convictions involving anti-apartheid activities. Chaos erupted when the police arrived and fired tear gas into the crowd in order to disperse them. There are conflicting accounts of who issued the first command to shoot. Soon, children were scattering in all directions, leaving some wounded on the road. This resulted in the first deaths of a 15-year-old student, Hastings Ndlovu and 12-year-old student, Hector Pieterson.
Sam Nzima captured the infamous photograph of Mbuyisa Makhubo, carrying a dying Hector Pieterson, with his sister by his side. The police continued to attack the protestors, firing indiscriminately at large crowds of students, killing an unknown number of people. Emergency clinics were flooded with injured and bloody children, and the police requested for doctors to create a list of all victims with bullet wounds to prosecute them for protesting. The doctors refused and recorded the wounds as abscesses.
An estimated 1,500 police officers were sent to Soweto the next day, carrying weapons, such as automatic rifles, stun guns and carbines. The South African Army was also called to stand by as a scare tactic, and dispersal techniques were used to control the crowds. People were arrested and according to reports, Connie Mofokeng, who was a member of the Soweto Student Representative Council, was tortured for information.
The Soweto Uprising has been marked as one of the most fundamentally challenging periods of South African history. Many white South Africans were so disgusted by the government’s actions, that another protest occurred, consisting of at least 400 white students from the University of the Witwatersrand. They marched through the streets of Johannesburg in protest at the deaths of children. In support of the protest, black workers went on strike and riots erupted in the townships of other cities in South Africa.
The Soweto Uprising had a significant impact on other countries, such as those in Europe and North America. This resulted in activists and organisations protesting against apartheid, leading to international pressure on the South African government. The riots were a pivotal moment in the fight against apartheid as it reignited opposition to apartheid in South Africa both domestically and internationally. Following the advent of democracy in 1994, a year later, the new democratic government declared 16 June as National Youth Day and June as Youth Month.
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