June 16 marks a special day on the South African calendar \u2013 it\u2019s a day that honours the role of youth in the liberation of South Africa.<\/p>\n
What was meant to be a peaceful march by school pupils in Soweto on 16 June 1976 against Afrikaans as a language of instruction in township schools, ended in tragedy when police opened fire on the students. Today this is known as the Soweto Uprising, and Youth Day remembers those students who lost their lost their lives that day.<\/p>\n
But what does youth day mean for us today? There are great lessons to learn from the students of the 1976 uprisings. Although today\u2019s youngsters are not fighting for the same things, they are also facing challenges that they need to liberate themselves from, such as unemployment, poverty and crime.<\/p>\n
The youth can\u2019t continue to wait for the government to do things for them. They need to liberate themselves from their circumstances and take up opportunities that are available to them and build a better future.<\/p>\n
Young South Africans remain a central part of the country\u2019s success. For this country to grow and develop, the youth need to be empowered. We need to keep the knowledge of our history conscious in our youth, to encourage them to be daring and face their challenges and succeed.<\/p>\n
Hopefully this youth day we can remember the past, celebrate the present and create hope for the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
June 16 marks a special day on the South African calendar \u2013 it\u2019s a day that honours the role of youth in the liberation of South Africa. What was meant to be a peaceful march by school pupils in Soweto on 16 June 1976 against Afrikaans as a language of instruction in township schools, ended<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","post_format-post-format-image"],"yoast_head":"\n