Red paving stones have been chosen to mark the route taken by marching schoolchildren on that fateful day in June 1976. The red represents their struggle and the blood that was spilled.

May 23, 2006

A SECTION of the route the Soweto learners followed on 16 June 1976 before their confrontation with police in Orlando West, which sparked the 1976 riots, is being laid with red bricks in preparation for the 30th anniversary of the day.

The red paving bricks are symbolic of the learners' struggle and the blood spilled, says Frans Ledwaba, the community liaison and customer care manager of the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA).

The section being completed by the JRA at present is from Morris Isaacson High School in Mputhi Street, Jabavu, to the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Khumalo Street, Orlando West, where commemorations will take place in a few weeks' time.

Ledwaba adds that the eventual aim is to pave the whole route taken by learners, who snaked through the suburbs to join the march to Orlando West. He expects this will take several years and will involve about 1 500m² of paving.

On the walls of the Hector Pieterson Museum: angry students marching

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

According to Ali Hlongwane, the curator of the Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial, 10 000 learners converged on the site in Vilakazi Street, where a bloody confrontation took place.

Pupils joined the march from schools all over the area - Mofolo Junior Secondary School, Thesele Secondary School, Mncube High School, Belle Primary and Orlando West Junior Secondary School. Paved routes will start at these schools and others, all eventually leading to Vilakazi Street.

Some open land opposite the entrance to Morris Isaacson High School, which contains a small koppie, trees and boulders, is being turned into a park, to be laid with a mix of coloured bricks reflecting the colours of the national flag. It will be named by the community, Ledwaba says.

This year's commemorations are likely to include a walk along the red brick paving from Morris Isaacson High School to the Hector Pieterson Memorial, a distance of five kilometres. In time this trail will be complemented by another trail: a heritage walk that will take in several significant sites close to the memorial and the neighbouring Hector Pieterson Museum.

The sites - with the Hector Pieterson precinct as the focal point - will be linked by interpretive plaques and panels, public art and arty paving to form a walking trail. It will probably start at the Zeth Mothopeng house in Maseko Street, move up Pela Street, passing the Anglican Holy Cross Church and Belle Primary School along the way. Then it will cross Khumalo Street into Moema Street, before heading up to Vilakazi Street, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela have homes.

Lebwaba stresses that laying the paving has been an empowerment public works programme, in partnership with the national Department of Public Works.

"We have taken 100 youth, veterans and women from each ward, given them a six-week training course including leadership courses and on-the-job training in laying curbs and paving," he says. At this stage the trail passes through three wards. Once the JRA moves on to the next ward, those involved in the paving from previous wards will be skilled and accredited.