Soweto to host June 16 commemorations!

ANC top brass came in large numbers as they addressed thousands of learners who descended from all Soweto schools.

This year’s commemorations will take place in Soweto and Head of State JG Zuma will deliver key note address at Orlando Stadium on June 16.

Minister Jeff Radebe, Minister in The Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation gave detailed programmes that will be unfolding during June month, as part of celebrations.

The launch took place at Hector Pietersen Memorial Museum, Soweto.

The 2016 June Youth Month will be commemorated under the theme ‘Youth Moving South Africa Forward’ and commemorates 40 years since the June 16 1976 Soweto uprising when hundreds of young people protested against the apartheid government and their imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.

It was on this day that hundreds of young people lost their lives in the struggle for the liberation, which started a revolt that spread to other parts of country crafting today a South Africa that is democratic, non-racist, non-sexist and belonging to all who live in it.

Buti Manamela, deputy Minister in the Presidency, who is charged with youth development has overseen the conceptualisation of a youth focused development programme that is integral to the NDP Vision 2030 and that being the National Youth Policy 2020.

“As the youth of our country, we encourage you to seize with both hands the democratic opportunities now availing to you, to utilise your enormous genius and energy to help transform our country,” he said.

In partnership with the National Youth Dev Agency, herewith information on some programmes identified throughout the June Month:

1. A National Youth Service Workshop in Pretoria tomorrow on the 2nd June.

1. The SAB Kickstart Roadshow in Soshanguve on the 6th June

   

2. The Youth Summit in the Northern Cape at Khara Hais
3. The Career Expo at the same venue of Khara Hais on the 11th June which will also see a visit by the Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
4. The Youth Brigade will be kick started on the 13th June with comprehensive messaging on the benefits to be accrued by the youth.
5. The main June Youth Month programme will be the June 16 Commemoration at the Orlando Stadium on June 16. The President constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) specifically to ensure that we have a dignified all-inclusive 40th Anniversary commemoration this year on June 16 in Soweto.
6. The NYDA will convene youth awards on June 17 to highlight excellence in youth development and leadership.
7. There will be a launch of the NYDA branch as well as a career expo at Alfred Nzo on the 21st June
8. There will be a conference to make follow-up on progress on the “hashtag fees must fall” protests to be held in Cape Town on 22nd June.
9. There will be an anti-HIV campaign in Durban on 24th June
10. And very importantly also there will be the launch of the Interstate Bus Lines Entrepreneurship Programme in Mangaung on the 25th June.

In 1977, Solomon “Kalushi” Mahlangu returned to participate in the 1st Anniversary commemoration of June 16 Students’ Uprising, after leaving the country for exile.

However, he and his two comrades were accosted by the security forces resulting into a gun battle where civilians were killed by stray bullets. A protracted trial ensued that in turn led to him facing the gallows. After he was sentenced to death, international calls for clemency failed to save him from the gallows.

It was as he took those final steps towards the gallows that he declared those chilly but brave words: “Tell my people that I love them and that they must continue the fight, my blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom, aluta continua!”