POLOKWANE – Known for her domineering presence on the Mitchell House stage, KK Mametja’s creativity expands beyond just that.
The 18-year-old penned a special poem just for Review on Youth Day.
YOUTH
Down it came
And up they rose
Took to the streets now splattered with blood of gold
1976
Still the number stings
Just like the bullets and the gas in their eyes.
We as the youth of today have to realize
The the meaning of their sacrifice.
Up rose the great trees
Of which we are the seeds
To put an end to an unjust system
And now iBantu
Can never curtail me
Curtail us
Curtail you
Ama “yellow-mellow”
And the gun shots
The sour cloudy grenades
And the youth shouts
“The baas is not our father
And Afrikaans is not our mother”
Tongue in cheek
They took the slap
And now we sit here
Pig necked
Fed by what was left behind
From our heroes and heroines alike.
We are the future of our country
United under one banner
Youth
That is why they fear us so terribly
We hold the power
Youth
Young
Outspoken
Unfazed
Tenacious
Herculean
YOUTH
We stand in obstinacy
Because the journey is not over
We’re still on this odyssey
Started by our Super Teens
Mapped out in a Sowetan street
Now
What are you going to do
Now that our broken chains lay at our feet?
Suck the juice and eat the meat?
No
We are the the future of our country
And the reason why we would be feared so terribly
Is because we are the
YOUTH
Young
Outspoken
Unfazed
Tenacious
Herculean
YOUTH
Brothers and sisters
Future mothers and fathers
Armed with education
Soaked in fruitily
Dipped in gold
Embrace these gifts
(Before we get old)
We are the youth
Kgoao K Mametja