TOMORROW, the country will be observing June 16 1976 Uprising , known in South Africa as Youth Day.
Saturday marks 42 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. At the time and still to today the event spread countrywide and profoundly changed the socio-political landscape in South Africa.
According to South Afrcian History Online (SAHO) events that triggered the uprising can be traced back to policies of the Apartheid government that resulted in the introduction of the Bantu Education Act in 1953.
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“The rise of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) and the formation of South African Students Organisation (SASO) raised the political consciousness of many students while others joined the wave of anti-Apartheid sentiment within the student community.
“When the language of Afrikaans alongside English was made compulsory as a medium of instruction in schools in 1974, black students began mobilising themselves. On 16 June 1976 between 3000 and 10 000 students mobilised by the South African Students Movement’s Action Committee supported by the BCM marched peacefully to demonstrate and protest against the government’s directive. The march was meant to culminate at a rally in Orlando Stadium.”
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