Realogile Secondary School in Alex recently hosted a reunion as part of the build-up to this year’s Youth Month and 40th annual national June 16 celebration and saw Alex and Soweto veterans of the 1976 students uprising relive their memories of that historical day.
The reunion arranged by the Alexandra June 16/18 Development Foundation was a platform to express the solidarity which existed between the two area’s groups of pupils during the riots, which also comprised pupils from Alexandra and higher level secondary schools such as Realogile.
Narrating the sequence of the June 18 fateful day’s event, participant and Deputy Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Obed Bapela, said it had been planned meticulously to be peaceful but was disrupted and discredited by the brutal shooting by the police resulting in mayhem, deaths, looting and destruction of property.
“We were driven by a vision for change and conducted ourselves in a disciplined manner until the shooting of unarmed, but courageous, children protesting against a forced education system, which current schoolchildren should be assisted to understand and respect when the day is commemorated,” Bapela stressed.
He implored current schoolchildren to still be radical but to emulate the June 16 group by acting in a disciplined manner when airing their grievances. This he said in reference to the recent destruction of schools in Vuwani, Limpopo, where close to 30 pupils burnt and vandalised school property.
Bapela said the commemoration of the uprising should be symbolic and should teach current schoolchildren that peaceful protest is still a powerful tool for self-expression, but protests should be guided and pupils should avoid destructive conduct.
He added that the foundation, in partnership with government and the City of Johannesburg, would develop permanent features as symbols and reminders of that moment of change which cost lives.
He said a book will be written for posterity and information for those wanting to know about Alex’s significance and contribution to the struggle. Bapela said it would begin with this year’s commemoration when hired transport will traverse the route of the uprising, and participants can lay wreaths at significant sites and graveyards.
“Schools that were involved will be declared heritage sites, and a street in Eastbank will be named after Jappie Vilankulu, the first known victim of the shooting.”
Bapela also stated that all who participated will be traced, acknowledged and urged to contribute to an accurate narration and preservation of Alex’s contribution and importance to today’s democracy.
Details: Kgoerano Kekana 074 441 7563; 011 346 2191.
