Preparations are under way to return to the sites that 16 June 1976 etched into the psyche of all South Africans, marking the 30th anniversary of the student uprisings.

May 30, 2006
 
THIS year marks the 30th anniversary of the June 16 student uprising in Soweto - and Monday, 29 May, saw the launch at Morris Isaacson High School of a commemoration programme.

June has been declared Youth Month, with the theme "Age of hope: deepening youth participation in development"; and various events have been planned.

Youth Month will be celebrated around the country with debates, memorial lectures, youth awards, sports tournaments, a gala dinner and a health conference, to be co-ordinated by the National Youth Commission.

Remembering the past, learners from Morris Isaacson High School prepare for Youth Month (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)

However, on 16 June the focus will once again turn to Soweto, with Morris Isaacson High School in Jabavu being the starting point of the day's commemoration.
The Youth Month programme was announced in the high school's courtyard on Monday to several hundred learners.

Present for the event were Johannesburg's executive mayor Amos Masondo, together with the minister in the presidency, Essop Pahad, the Gauteng MEC for sport, arts, culture and recreation, Barbara Creecy, and the chairperson of the National Youth Commission, Jabu Mbalula.

Speakers stressed the significance of 16 June 1976, and the role played by the youth on that day, in changing the history of South Africa.

"They made a decision to fight for liberation and freedom that was more important than their lives," said Pahad. "Today is better than yesterday. Tomorrow will be better than today. The future has never looked brighter for our youth."
Masondo, who urged the youth to attend the launch of the City's Youth and Development Strategy in June, said, "Growth will not be possible unless young people and skills development are involved. It will enable government to address the complex issues the youth are dealing with today, which is different from 30 years ago."

Commemoration plans for 16 June are almost complete, with a programme kicking off with Masondo and Creecy officially naming a piece of veld opposite Morris Isaacson High School. The park is being laid with paving stones in the colours of the South African flag.

This will be followed by a symbolic walk, which starts at the school and ends at the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Orlando West. Walkers will pause halfway through the five-kilometre walk to observe a moment of silence.

Johannesburg's executive mayor Amos Masondo, the minister in the presidency, Essop Pahad, and Gauteng's MEC for sport, arts, culture and recreation, Barbara Creecy, launch Youth Month (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)

President Thabo Mbeki and other officials will lay wreaths at the base of the Hector Pieterson Memorial before the entourage moves to the FNB Stadium, where Mbeki will give the keynote address.

The route from Morris Isaacson High School to the memorial is in the final stages of being paved in red brick, the first stage of a broader project to pave all the routes learners took on 16 June on their way to Orlando West, where the violent confrontation with the police took place.

In 1976 the schoolchildren started their march at Naledi High School, picking up others along the way. They planned to gather for a meeting at the Orlando Stadium, but were intercepted by the police in Vilakazi Street, Orlando West.

It was here that the first shots in what was to become a countrywide uprising were fired.

Red bricks have been chosen, to symbolise the bloody sacrifice made by the students on 16 June and in the days immediately after.