Group stages Youth Day protest on Umhlanga Rocks Drive

A GROUP of local residents staged a peaceful protest on Umhlanga Rocks Drive on Thursday in an effort to stir debate against apathy in civil society and to show how little had changed since South Africa’s democratic elections. Known as Izwe Lethu, the group held up placards with the hashtag, #40YearsLater, and various messages highlighting ‘white privilege’ and the plight of the masses.

Thursday marked 40 years since the waves of protest which led to the Soweto uprising of 1976 and the proclamation of June 16, Youth Day, as a public holiday. While the protest was peaceful, one motorist was so enraged by one of the signs, he stopped his car, said he didn’t agree with the sign and tried to attack one of the protesters. Another motorist shouted out to one of the protesters, ‘ask your president why’.

Mike van Niekerk and Madala Ngubane, who began the movement, explained that the idea behind their protest was to bring about meaningful change through honest debate.

“We are a collective of people engaging with every area of society for justice, restitution, restoration, decolonisation and reconciliation in our nation. Apartheid and colonialism may have stopped, but the inequality that they created has never gone away. In 1994 we put a plaster over a festering wound. Today is about challenging white privilege, which is why we chose uMhlanga, and asking questions. There seems to be a numbness to reality for many white people who don’t realise how unequal our society is and how little has changed in 40 years for the oppressed,” Van Neikerk said.

His message was echoed by Ngubane, who said the placards were another way to highlight the message of the oppressed.

“Some people don’t want to hear this or challenge their privilege. Whenever black people protest by burning tyres, they are called savages and uneducated, but there’s no investigation as to why they have to resort to doing what they do. Their voices don’t  count, and the only way to be heard is to protest. People are gatvol of seeing things stay the same. There is no such thing as equal opportunities. We are not free, We stand united in a peaceful protest as we continue to fight the battle,” Ngubane said.