Greetings
Moment of silence: for lives lost to GBV & COVID-19
Today we remember the youth of 1976, who were at the frontline of the school boycotts of June 6 1976.
When students across the country decided, enough was Enough and took to the streets from different provinces and waged a fight against systematic oppression that stood before their future, education, equal opportunities, their future dreams, and the dreams of the youth that exists today. We commemorate and remember the lives of students who stood with their fists up high facing the oppressive system, the societal barriers as well as a government that did not represent them. singing and chanting “Senzeni Na” what have we done? Despite these songs, the police still responded with teargas, bullets and live ammunition to try and defeat this great fight, but they never gave up.
We salute the young men and women of 1976, whose sacrifices ensured that today we can be able to have a voice, bring back the agency to young people, give us the opportunity to stand up and be able to define our future, speak about our struggles and be advocates of change. Young people continue to be the vanguard of our democracy, from NUSAS, SASO, AZASO, SANSCO to SASCO and the collective progressive youth alliance (PYA) and all other progressive youth movements that refuse to be silenced and denied their rights in South Africa.
Today out fight is of economic freedom, for access and success, for land, for education, for the bridge in the gap of socio-economic barriers and a fight against systematic oppression, GBV and free society for different bodies to exist such as the LGBTQIA+ community, people with albinism and disabled bodies. We still fight for a society that is free of racism, sexism, femicide, xenophobia, transphobia and other forms of discrimination. Our liberation is not complete while our Grandparents, our parents and the youth is still living in poverty in the democratic S.A.
We are still frustrated. We are frustrated by commodified education which closed doors of learning for many young people, we are the youth that still faced the system head-on in 2015/16 when we took to the streets to demand free education, an education system that is decolonised, a curriculum that produces employers, developers and inventors not just employees and unemployed graduates. Young people are sitting at home with their diploma’s, degrees and training certificates due to lack of employment opportunities, no work experience and a system that still puts the black child at the bottom of the food chain.
- We do not want the youth of criminals, and we do not want gangs in our communities
- We do not want to loot in order to have
- We do not want corruption, we do not want drugs and violence
- We do not want to burn down things in order to be heard, we are tired of shutting down
- We are tired of having to have connections in order to secure a job
- We do not want to depend on government subsidies, we do not want loans and we most certainly do not want to be remembered as the youth that celebrated a grand of R350 when the cost of living is so expensive
We are hard workers; we are willing and able to work but we need equal opportunities.
The young women of this country are tired, we are tired of fighting for protection, we are tired of being victims of abuse, we want to live. Yet every day a new case of a young girl, a teenager, a young womxn, our mothers and grandmother are being killed and raped daily. I am tired of living in fear of wondering if #AM I NEXT?
Gomolemo Legae (18) didn’t know she was next when she was murdered while walking home in Ramosadi village outside Mahikeng. Precious Ramululana (21) didn’t know she was next when she was found dead at Capricorn college this year. Uyinene Mretyana (19) didn’t know she was next when she went to fetch a package at the post office in cape town last year. Ntabisent Rampai (22) didn’t know she was next when her cold body was found in her bedroom in Welkom Free state. And the 5000 cases between March and April of GBV together with those that haven’t been reported due to fear, intimidation and the fear of not being taken seriously. We demand justice, we demand peace WE CAN’T BREATHE.
These stories are a harsh reminder that the social-economic marginalisation of our youth persists in S.A.
The Covid-19 pandemic that has faced our country has hit hard on families, individuals and students and has introduced a new way of living, a 4th industrial revolution which has engulfed the post-schooling sector and thus the concept of e-learning. For a country that is also competing in the global market, we do not want to be left behind, we want a youth that will grab the changes in society with both hands and not be stagnant due to connectivity issues, communication and access to technology.
We want to graduate, and as the South African student’s congress SASCO we cannot be spectators in a destructive arena of the deadly pandemic, we emerge from difficult times as students and we are still trying to ensure that NO STUDENT IS LEFT BEHIND. and fighting institutions that continue to define themselves outside of the DHET announcement of a national crisis. Spatial planning and development in S.A in general still face many challenges, the historically disadvantaged universities and TVET Colleges in our country remain unchanged and with permanent remnants of poverty, inequality, underdevelopment and infrastructural backlog which is a contrast to former white institutions in big cities who are capable of adjusting to the 4th industrial revolution.
It would be the fault of us to not acknowledge and appreciate the strides made by government to relieve young people of poverty, oppression and try to create better opportunities for us. We appreciate the NGO’s and NPO’s, companies and the government who are invested in youth and community development. But we need more support, entering the labour market and we want to contribute to the economic growth of our country.
The 2019 youth day commemoration speech of the president (16 June) in Peter Mokaba cricket club, Polokwane. The president emphasized that they were on a mission to support us, by growing new future jobs, working with social partners, organized labour, businesses and civil society, building jobs according to the youth summit and curbing the gap of unemployment in a sustainable manner. Mr President, we will hold you and your cabinet accountable, we will hold the government accountable, and we will hold each and every SA citizen accountable.
Young people, remain resilient, we have ambitions for this country, it is ours to inherit and we will take charge of our destiny.
Aluta Continua