Maybe it’s time to do more than just reminisce about the youth of ’76

44 years later, the South African youth may need to do more than to commemorate the youth of 1976 this 16 June. The socio-political landscape has not changed for the better in most parts.

Injustices continue to be the order of the day in our education system. The further a learner or student is from Gauteng, the further they are from justice in our black-led government and education system. Even through a pandemic, thousands of learners are excluded. Learners don’t have enough teachers. They still share textbooks. In 2020, they use pit-toilets, they cross rivers and walk long distances to earn an education.

Recently, when schools reopened on 8 June, around 10% of schools nationally could not open. This has nothing to do with the new life of masks and sanitisers. 26 years later, we have schools that are without adequate water and proper sanitation.

Sadly, it is primarily rural schools that are always left behind. What kind of schooling system is this that has to be vindicated for leaving others behind? They went ahead and opened other schools, because they could not wait for every school to be ready.

Of course, this is not a problem for the department of education alone. This is a result of a government that doesn’t prioritise the wholesome wellbeing of their young people. These are the results of a black-led government that most of its officials suffered the injustices in the dehumanisations of apartheid.

But instead of showing us a better way to govern, it is always as though people have had amnesia. It is evidently a total loss of memory. How on earth do people who witnessed the horrible, inhumane, unfair and regressive ways of the apartheid government fail to change things when they get into government?

Perhaps in 2020, we shouldn’t just celebrate the heroism of 1976 youth. Maybe we should be finding and building our own bravery to challenge the current government for justice and better governance.

The youth of 1976 fought collectively and championed the rights of all learners or pupils. Theirs was a battle for every single young person to not be part of the Bantu education system. Not in parts, not to leave others behind, but to all at the same time do away with the system.

We have our own injustices and socio-political issues to fight for, to perhaps even protest for. However, we dare not think that our lives will be spared under a democratic South Africa if we pluck the courage to challenge the government. 34 miners lost their lives for demonstrating and putting their tools down for a paltry R12,500 basic income.

We must be willing to die for a just South Africa.

We have a lot of challenges. Government schools are not all equally equipped. The youth are graduating in high numbers and unemployment is surging high. More than 50% of young people have no money to pay for their tuition fees, and education is still not free. Over half of the South African youth live in poverty and their homes have low if not zero income.

Our placards will definitely not say, “Down with Afrikaans”. However, we have to fight our own battles to ensure that the next generation does not fight battles we should have won.

Our placards should say: “Down with unemployment.” We should chant: “Down with expensive and unaffordable tertiary education.” We should declare: “Down with poverty.” We should definitely stand together and say: “Down with a government that fails to govern adequately.”

May Youth Day of 2020 be the beginning of a progressive and new revolution for a better South Africa.

As Solomon Mahlangu said: “My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them. They must continue the struggle.”

21st-century youth, let’s continue the struggle. Happy Youth Day!!!

Kabelo Chabalala is the founder and chairperson of the Young Men Movement (YMM), an organisation that focuses on the reconstruction of the socialisation of boys to create a new cohort of men. Email, kabelo03chabalala@gmail.com ; Twitter, @KabeloJay; Facebook, Kabelo Chabalala