Forty-two years after the Soweto uprising, East Coast Radio presenters decided to pay tribute to the youth who lost their lives in the fight for equality in 1976 by reflecting on their 16-year-old selves.
1.June 16 marked the first day of what we now know as the Soweto Uprising. Although it began in Soweto, the protests spread to other townships around the country and continued all through the year.
2.Events that triggered the uprising can be traced back to policies of the Apartheid government that resulted in the introduction of the Bantu Education Act in 1953.
3.Deputy Minister Andries Treurnicht sent instructions to the School Boards, inspectors, and principals to the effect that Afrikaans should be put on an equal basis with English as a medium of instruction in all schools.
4.On 16 June 1976, between 3,000 and 10,000 students mobilised by the South African Students Movement’s Action Committee supported by the Black Consciousness Movement marched peacefully to demonstrate and protest against the government’s directive. The march was meant to culminate at a rally in Orlando Stadium.
5.At the time the government was spending more on white education than on black education; R644 was spent annually for each white student, while only R42 was budgeted for a black school child.
6.In 1976 there were 257,505 pupils enrolled in Form 1 (Grade 8) at high schools which had a capacity for only 38,000 students.
7.To alleviate the situation, pupils who had passed their standard six (Grade 8) examinations were requested to repeat the standard. This was met with great resentment by the students and their parents.
8.The official death toll was 23, but it could have been higher than 200 because the incident triggered widespread violence throughout South Africa, which claimed more lives.
9.The first student to be shot on that fateful day was 15-year old Hastings Ndlovu.
10.The killing of Hector Pieterson, aged 12, and in particular the publication of his photograph taken by Sam Nzima, made him an international icon of the uprising. It became the major rallying point of the struggle against apartheid.
Source – ECR
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