By Cornelia du Plooy
Friday is June 16 - an auspicious date in South Africa's political calendar. It was a day that shook the country, if not the whole world, and it will forever be a bittersweet day; filled on one hand with feelings of loss and and on the other, with hope.
Youth Day commemorates the courage and determination of thousands of pupils who took to the streets in demand of their rights. On that day and in ensuing weeks the uprising spread to other areas, including Pretoria.
Friday holds different meanings for many.
Thirty years on, the Class of '76, as the pupils of the day refer to themselves, may have gone their separate ways but they will never be parted. They are joined in a web of brotherhood by their joint sacrifices.
One such '76 "graduate" is Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs.
For Mamoepa, the impact of June 16 took effect five days later when townships around Pretoria erupted.
"In Atteridgeville, June 21 marked our reaction to the struggles that were waged before us (like Sharpeville), the conditions in the townships, and the imposition of Afrikaans as medium of instruction in schools and expressing our solidarity with our fellow pupils in Soweto," he said.
Atteridgeville youths, fuelled by events in Soweto, were determined to express their solidarity and took to the streets in their school uniforms where they too "were met with the full might of the security police".
"In the face of a brutal enemy we did not shy away; we stood our ground and in my mind we represented the sharpest edge of the spear of the people," he said.
For his mother, who spent the day anxiously waiting to hear if her son had died during the march, it was "a terrible time".
For Mamoepa's children, it is a "gift" that came at a high price: months of solitary confinement and five years on Robben Island.
Helen Mamoepa is 79, a mother of five, grandmother of 18 and great-grandmother of three, and the events that unfolded 30 years ago had a ripple effect on her family.
"I still remember the sound of the knock on the door: 'Polisie, maak oop!' I remember going to the Compol building, seeing my son in handcuffs and I remember the Red Cross-sponsored train rides to Cape Town to visit Ronnie in prison," she said.
She said June 16 accentuated the importance of political awareness. She also said it served no purpose to hate those who had scarred her family life. "You can't hate them; they did not know what they were doing," she said.
Today, members of the Class of '76 are prepared to wage a new struggle: supporting and guiding today's youth.
"They face different challenges than we did. Even if they aren't forced to make the same sacrifices we had to, we will still be here to guide them and to remind them of the events of June 16 and June 21," said Mamoepa.
He said Youth Day sent a clear message to all: "Never betray the cause of the people ... and in serving them, always remain humble and always do your best."