Johannesburg – Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane said action, not words would honour those who participated in the historic 1976 Soweto Uprising.
“Forty years ago, hundreds of young South Africans lost their lives, and thousands more risked theirs, standing up to an unjust government,” Maimane said on Thursday while speaking during the 40th anniversary commemorations at the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Orlando West, Soweto.
Maimane said the actions of the over 20 000 students who protested against the injustice of the education system and Afrikaans being imposed as the language of instruction on June 16, 1976 “changed the course of our history”.
He said people had gathered on Thursday to “celebrate” the youth’s role during the apartheid struggle, adding: “But what good is celebrating the youth of yesterday when you deny the youth of today their future?”
Touching on the challenges today’s youth face, Maimane said the rising unemployment rate among the youth was a concern.
The latest unemployment statistics show that 8.9 million South Africans were without jobs, and two thirds were youth.
He added that one in three South Africans could not find work and this went up to one in two for young South Africans under 35.
“Our youth unemployment rate is more than four times higher than the global average,” Maimane pointed out.
“We need to start calling it what it is: Youth unemployment is the single biggest threat to our country’s future.”
Maimane criticised government, saying it was unable to fix the problem despite putting on a “show” each year to honour the legacy the 1976 youth.
“This ANC government has become the very thing the students were rising against 40 years ago. They have become the protector of the status quo. They have become the denier of opportunity.”
He said today’s youth had been “let down” by the government which has “sabotaged this generation that we still naively call ‘born frees’.”
He said as the country stood together in remembrance of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, 22 years into democracy, it was important to remember what they were standing against.
“Of all the wrongs of apartheid, its greatest sin was surely to deny black children a proper education.”
He said schools today were “dysfunctional” and this needed to change.
Maimane claimed the education system youth of today was possibly “worse” than the Bantu education system the 1976 youth fought against.
Recalling that euphoric 1994 moment when democracy was ushered in, Maimane said: “This is a government that was meant to deliver the dream of 1994 to millions of young South Africans, but instead got sucked into the battle for power and money.”
“Corrupt governments cannot deliver to the people. Corrupt governments can only think of themselves.”
He urged government and South Africans to ensure that today’s youth have a future.
“If we don’t kick-start our failing economy right now so that we can start creating work opportunities for these millions of young South Africans, our democracy will come apart.”
Maimane said it was important to focus on rebuilding broken walls.
“Fixing education and creating opportunities for the youth of today is the best way to pay tribute to the legacy of the students who lost their lives in the Soweto uprising.”
African News Agency