16 June 2017•Update: 16 June 2017
By Hassan Isilow
JOHANNESBURG
South Africans are marking 41 years since the Soweto student uprising, where dozens of protesting black students were killed by the apartheid police.
Black students fed up of policies of the then white minority rule marched to Soweto, a township in Johannesburg, to protest against the use of the Afrikaans language as medium of instruction in schools, when police fired on them.
Dozens were killed at the time, although the exact number remains unknown.
Several events have been organized across the country, by both government and the opposition, to reflect on the sacrifices made by thousands of students at the time.
“The youth of 1976 fought for political freedom which was granted to us in 1994 [with the abolition of apartheid rule],” President Jacob Zuma said in his address to hundreds of students, in a stadium in the Northwest Province.
Zuma, 75, a former anti-apartheid activist himself, praised the student march saying it was a turning point in the country’s struggle against white minority rule.
He paid tribute to all those who lost their lives during the uprising, saying that the nation acknowledges their sacrifices, and their courage to take on the apartheid state.
He encouraged students to study in order to overcome poverty.
“Education is the most powerful weapon towards economic freedom.” Zuma said, adding that the government had taken practical steps to ensure that children are enrolled in schools.
Students in school uniforms danced to songs celebrating sacrifices made for the country during the uprising.
Leader of South Africa’s main opposition party Mmusi Maimane used the day to campaign against drug abuse among youth in Phoenix, in the coastal city of Durban.
“Nothing destroys the life of a child like the effects of drug addiction. Nothing steals their youth faster than growing up in a culture of drug abuse, violence and gangs,” he said.
