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 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died
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استعادة ما حدث ( من تقرير اللجنة الخاصة لمناهضة الفصل العنصري ) :-
مذبحة سويتو وأعقابها
في 16 حزيران/ يونيه 1976 اشترك 10000 طالب أفريقي في سويتو، البلدة التي يعزل فيها الأفريقيون والتابعة لجوهانسبرغ، في مظاهرة سلمية ضد القرار التعسفي الذي فرضته سلطات "تعليم البانتو" بضرورة استخدام اللغة الأفريكانية كوسيلة لتدريس عدة مواد في المدارس الثانوية. وفتحت الشرطة النار على المتظاهرين مما أسفر عن مقتل عدة أطفال. وتم نقل إحدى وحدات الشرطة الخاصة المدربة على مكافحة الإرهاب في المناطق الحضرية إلى سويتو بطائرات الهليكوبتر التي استخدمت أيضا في إلقاء قنابل مسيلة للدموع. وفي المواجهات التالية بين الشرطة والأفريقيين؛ ومعظمهم من الطلبة، قتل وجرح عدد كبير من الأشخاص. وقد دمر الأفريقيون عددا من المباني ـ لا سيما مكاتب مجلس إدارة شئون البانتو في الراند الغربية؛ ومحلات المشروبات الروحية والمحلات العامة لاحتساء البيرة ـ التي يعتبرونها رمزا للتمييز والاضطهاد العنصريين. ..
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Re: 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died (Re: محمدين محمد اسحق)
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وتبين روايات شهود العيان عن الأحداث التي وقعت في 16 حزيران/ يونيه أن الشرطة كانت تطلق النار على أطفال المدارس وتقتلهم دون تمييز، وصرح أحد كبار ضباط الشرطة للصحفيين بقوله: "إننا نطلق النار عليهم مباشرة. لا فائدة من إطلاق النار في الفضاء فوق رؤوسهم". وقد أدى إرسال كتائب كبيرة من الشرطة إلى البلدة إلى إثارة غضب الأفريقيين.
وفي 17حزيران/ يونيه نظم عدة مئات من الطلبة البيض من جامعة ويتووترزراند مظاهرات في جوهانسبرغ تعاطفا مع الطلبة السود في سويتو وانضم إليهم عمال سود. وقد هاجمهم بوحشية الحرس من الأهالي البيض والشرطة مما أسفر عن إصابة عشرات من الأشخاص بجراح خطيرة.. .
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Re: 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died (Re: محمدين محمد اسحق)
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وسرعان ما امتدت المظاهرات ضد "التعليم البانتو"، وتضامنا مع الطلبة الأفريقيين في سويتو إلى العديد من البلدات الأفريقية بالقرب من جوهانسبرغ، وبريتوريا، وكروغررذورب، وجيرمستون، وبينونى، وبوكسبرغ، وكليركسدورب، ونيلسبروى - بل إلى معظم البلدات الواقعة في منطقة ويتووترزراند- بريتوريا وكذا إلى أجزاء من محافظة ترانسفال الشمالية وولاية أورانج الحرة وناتال. كما تظاهر الطلبة في جامعة الشمال في تيرفلوب وجامعة زولولاند في نغويا للإعراب عن تعاطفهم، وتم إغلاق الجامعتين(*).
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Re: 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died (Re: محمدين محمد اسحق)
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ويستدل من الأرقام الرسمية أنه قتل 176 شخصا وأصيب 1139 شخصا بجراح، كان من بينهم عدد كبير من الأطفال الصغار. وتم إلقاء القبض على ما يزيد عن 1300 شخص. وثمة ما يدعو إلى الاعتقاد بأن الخسائر في الأرواح كانت في حقيقة الأمر أكثر من ذلك بكثير.
وقد كان السبب المباشر لمظاهرة الطلبة في سويتو، كما ذكر من قبل، هو فرض اللغة الأفريكانية كوسيلة للتدريس في المدارس الثانوية.
وجدير بالإشارة أن النظام الحاكم في جنوب أفريقيا قام بفصل التعليم عام 1954، ووضع نظام "تعليم البانتو" للأفريقيين على أساس فلسفة السيد هـ. ف. فيرفورد، وزير شؤون الأهالي آنذاك، القائلة بأنه "لا يوجد مكان للبانتو في المجتمع الأوروبي فوق مستوى أشكال معينة من العمل" وقد تعرض الأفريقيون لتمييز صارخ في التعليم.
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Re: 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died (Re: محمدين محمد اسحق)
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وتظاهر النظام الحاكم في بريتوريا بالتشاور مع أعضاء مجلس البانتو في المدن، وهو مؤسسة للفصل العنصري يزدريها الشعب الأفريقي، وأعلن أن القرار المتعلق بالوسيلة التي سيتم التدريس بها سيترك لمديري المدارس الذين يعملون بالتشاور مع مجالسهم المدرسية واللجان المدرسية. كما أعلن عن خطط لإمداد كافة المنازل في سويتو بالكهرباء خلال فترة تتراوح بين خمس وسبع سنوات ولمنح المجالس البانتو في المدن سلطات أوسع.
وبينما كان النظام الحاكم يقدم هذه التنازلات الضئيلة على أمل نزع الفتيل من المقاومة نجده يرفض بصورة قاطعة مطالب إنهاء الفصل العنصري ويمارس عمليات قمع على نطاق ضخم ضد الأهالي السود، وكذا ضد البيض الذين طالبوا بوضع حد للفصل العنصري.
وفي 15 تموز/ يوليه وضع الأحكام الخاصة بالاعتقال لأجل غير مسمى من قانون الأمن الداخلي موضع التنفيذ وقام باعتقال عدد كبير من زعماء منظمة طلبة جنوب أفريقيا؛ ومؤتمر السود. ووجه تحذيرات رسمية إلى عدد كبير من خصوم الفصل العنصري بألا يقحموا أنفسهم في الموقف.
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Re: 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died (Re: محمدين محمد اسحق)
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The day Hector Pieterson died
Story and photos by Lucille Davie
15 June 2006
"I saw a child fall down. Under a shower of bullets I rushed forward and went for the picture. It had been a peaceful march, the children were told to disperse, they started singing Nkosi Sikelele. The police were ordered to shoot."
These are the words of Sam Nzima, recalling the events of 16 June 1976, when over 500 people were killed as they protested over the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in township schools.
Nzima's photograph of the dying Hector Pieterson being carried by a fellow student was published around the world, and came to represent the anger and tragedy of a day that changed the course of South African history, sparking months of clashes between police, schoolchildren and protesters.
Hector, 12, was one of the first casualties of what came to be known as the Soweto Uprising.
Hastings: June 16's forgotten hero
Fifteen-year-old Hastings Ndlovu was probably shot before Hector Pieterson, although he died later. But no photographer was on hand to record the moment.
Another boy, Hastings Ndlovu, is believed to have been the first child to be shot on that fateful day. But Nzima, a photographer for Johannesburg newspaper The World, was on the spot when Mbuyisa Makhubo picked Hector up and, together with Hector's sister Antoinette, ran towards a press car, into which he was bundled taken to a nearby clinic, where he was pronounced dead.
"I was the only photographer there at the time", Nzima says. "Other photographers came when they heard shots."
A few months after that, The World was banned and shut down.
Hector Pieterson Museum
When you visit the Hector Pieterson Museum in Orlando West, Soweto, you'll see Nzima's legendary photograph showing the unconscious Hector being carried by Makhubo, with Hector's sister - now Antoinette Sithole - running alongside.
You might also get to see Antoinette herself, who works at the museum, giving guided tours.
Sam Nzima, Mbuyisa Makhubo, Antoinette Sithole, Theuns 'Rooi Rus' Swanepoel:
what became of them?
But don't expect to come away with an image of what Hector looked like - the family do not have a single snapshot of their famous son.
Soon after 16 June, journalists approached the Pieterson family for pictures of Hector. Photographs were handed over with the promise they would be returned - but they weren't. Thirty years later, the search for the photographs continues.
The museum, which opened on 16 June 2002, follows the chronology of the build-up to 16 June 1976, starting with the way tensions were building among Soweto's school children, with one school after another going out on strike.
The museum stands two blocks from where Hector was shot and fell, on the corner of Moema and Vilakazi Streets in Orlando West, Soweto. There are houses on all four corners of that intersection, so the museum is located up the road in Kumalo Street.
Hector's mother, Dorothy Molefi, lives in nearby Meadowlands. "I'm very proud that there's a museum for Hector, and that children are learning about him in history," she says. "We still visit his grave every few months."
Hector's father died not long before the opening of the museum.
The museum is an impressive red-brick building, two storeys high, with irregularly shaped windows in a haphazard pattern. The community asked that the building blend in with the dwellings around it - small red-brick, semi-detached houses with iron roofs.
Walking through the large rust-red door, the immediate impression is of a cathedral, with its double volume ceiling, tall thin windows, stripped wood floors, concrete columns and tall red-brick walls.
The wall opposite the door is filled with an enlarged photograph of marching children, with banners and posters protesting the use of Afrikaans in township schools.
The musuem's chief curator, Ali Hlongwane, is sensitive to the differing accounts of why that day's protests exploded the way they did.
There is some debate about the extent to which several student organisations, in particular the South African Students Organisation and the South Africa Students Movement, were involved in the lead-up to the uprising. The role of the liberation movements - the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress - is also unclear.
"The re-representation of the story is an ongoing process", says Hlongwane; the museum continues to record people's stories and add to its displays.
"We may get someone come into the museum, look at the photograph, and say: 'This is me', or 'I know that face'. We will then record and archive their experiences", Hlongwane explains.
There seems no doubt about the role of various cultural activists in building solidarity among the youth, inspired by Black Consciousness philosophy. Writers, poets, dancers, singers and painters captured the injustice of apartheid, and some of these works are on display.
Build-up to 16 June
But it is generally agreed that tensions in schools had been growing from February 1976, when two teachers at the Meadowlands Tswana School Board were dismissed for their refusal to teach in Afrikaans.
Students and teachers throughout Soweto echoed this sentiment, and the African Teachers' Association of South Africa presented a memorandum to this effect to the Education Department. From mid-May around a dozen schools went on strike, and several students refused to write mid-year exams.
On 16 June, students from three schools - Belle Higher Primary, Phefeni Junior Secondary and Morris Isaacson High - planned to march from their schools to the Orlando Stadium, about a kilometre from the museum, to hold a meeting. But before they got to where the museum stands today the police met them, in Moema Street.
There are conflicting accounts of who gave the first command to shoot, but soon children were turning and running in all directions, leaving some children lying wounded on the road - among them Hector Pieterson and Hastings Ndlovu.
A major part of the museum's presentation of the story of the day is done through TV monitors, recording the world's footage of the events, as South Africa had only just got television. Text panels scattered throughout the museum give eye-witness accounts and background viewpoints.
Inside the museum
The museum is arranged in a series of interleading spaces joined by ramps, moving you closer to Nzima's photograph - enlarged and waiting for you at the top of the second ramp.
The interior is dominated by red brick walls, with some areas plastered and painted white and black, and others left in grey concrete. Large square windows at the top of the ramps give views of the suburb's significant sites: Orlando Stadium, the Orlando Police Station, Moema Street, and several schools. Combined with black steel banisters and high ceilings, the effect is stunning.
One of the few walled-in rooms in the museum is the Death Register, the room that records the names of the children who died over the period from June 1976 to the end of 1977.
But the day, and the events that followed, had positive consequences. Thousands of students joined the broader liberation movement, ensuring that resistance to apartheid was maintained and escalated. International solidarity movements added to pressure on the apartheid government.
The use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction was dropped. More schools and a teacher training college were built in Soweto. Teachers were given in-service training, and encouraged to upgrade their qualifications by being given study grants.
And most importantly, urban blacks were given permanent resident status in South Africa. Before, they had been considered "temporary sojourners" with permanent residence only in the designated homelands, often inferior pieces of land far away from industrial centres and jobs.
Like the Apartheid Museum at Johannesburg's Gold Reef City, this much smaller museum - the first museum in Soweto - has a simplicity which allows the drama of the story to have maximum impact.
What became of them?
What became of some of the chief protagonists of 16 June 1976?
Sam Nzima
Nzima, who took six sequence shots of 12-year-old Pieterson in those brief moments, left Johannesburg for Limpopo - then the northern Transvaal - about a year later, when it became clear that his safety in the city was under threat. "The security branch phoned me and told me to go to John Vorster Square, but I went into hiding for three weeks," he says.
The harassment didn't stop after he left the city. "In 1978 the security branch from Nelspruit phoned and told me that they knew of my whereabouts and what I had done."
Nzima set up a bottle store after he settled up north, and later served as a member of parliament in the homeland Gazankulu government. He opened a school of photography in Bushbuckridge after being donated a black and white enlarger by The Sowetan newspaper.
"There is an art to developing black and white pictures", he says.
When the Independent Group bought Argus newspapers in 1999, he was given copyright to his Hector photographs.
Theuns 'Rooi Rus' Swanepoel
The police commander who is believed to have given the command to fire on the schoolchildren on the day, Theuns "Rooi Rus" Swanepoel, was described by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1998 as a policeman "who already had a long history of human rights violations as chief interrogator of the security branch".
Swanepoel told the TRC: "I made my mark. I let it be known to the rioters I would not tolerate what was happening. I used appropriate force. In Soweto and Alexandra where I operated, that broke the back of the organisers."
Die Afrikaner, the far-rightwing Herstigte Nasionale Party mouthpiece, gives the following version of how the first shot was fired in Orlando West: "In the heat of the struggle, (Swanepoel) and his men are called in from leave to stop a mass of seething, threatening youths. The atmosphere is laden and then one of the blacks throws a bottle into the face of the Red Russian ("Rooi Rus").
"A war breaks out as the young men let loose on the seething crowds and the one responsible for throwing the bottle looks like chicken mesh after the automatic machine gun flattens him."
Swanepoel allegedly lost his right eye in the incident. He died of a heart attack in 1998 at the age of 71.
Mbuyisa Makhubo
Mbuyisa Makhubo, the schoolboy who picked up Hector, was harassed by the police after the incident and eventually went into exile. His mother, Nombulelo Makhubo, told the TRC that she received a letter from him from Nigeria in 1978, but that she had not heard from him since. She died in 2004.
Antoinette Sithole
Antoinette Sithole, Hector's older sister and one of five sisters, still lives in Soweto. She was 17 in June 1976.
"On the day, I was hiding in the second house next to my school Phefeni High School," Antoinette says. "There were younger children at the march who shouldn't have been there. I don't know why they were there - Hector was one of them. There were random shots, we were not familiar with teargas shots. I was confused, those first shots could have been teargas.
"I came out of hiding and saw Hector, and I called him to me. He was looking around as I called his name, trying to see who was calling him. I waved at him, he saw me and came over to me. I asked him what he was doing here, we looked around, there was a shot, and I ran back to my hiding place. When I looked out I couldn't see Hector, I waited, I was afraid, where was he?
"Then I saw a group of boys struggling. This gentleman came from nowhere, lifted a body, and I saw the front part of the shoe which I recognised as Hector's. This man started to run with the body, I ran alongside, and said to him: who are you, this is my brother?
"A car stopped in front of us, a lady got out and said she was from the press, and offered us a lift to the clinic. We put him in the car. I don't remember how I got to the clinic, but the doctor said Hector was dead so I gave his details.
"I was so scared of how I was going to tell my mother. Two teachers from a nearby school took me to my grandmother's house. A neighbour phoned my mother at work, and when she got home at 5.30pm my uncle was standing outside the house with me. She said she had heard on the radio that children had died. My uncle broke the news - she was calm, she showed no emotion.
"My father lived in Alexandra - my parents are divorced - he saw the picture in the paper and recognised me and wondered why I wasn't at school.
"My mother's strength - she was stronger than my father - helped me come to terms with death. I can accept now that we are all going to die.
"My mother is still alive and still very strong. She still lives in the same house in Soweto. Hector was her only son, and since the uprising she has lost one of my younger sisters in a car accident.
"To me and my family, Hector did not die in vain."
Source: City of Johannesburg
http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/history/hector-pieterson.htm
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Re: 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died (Re: محمدين محمد اسحق)
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Thousands Gather To Remember Soweto Uprising
BuaNews (Tshwane)
NEWS
June 16, 2006
Posted to the web June 16, 2006
Thousands of Sowetans lined the streets of the township this morning to remember the events of the Soweto Uprising on June 16 1976.
Several students were killed on that day 30 years ago, when they took to the streets in protest against the apartheid education system.
The photograph of student activist, Mbuyisa Makhubu holding the body of 14-year old Hector Peterson captured the events of the day and will forever linger in the minds of many South Africans.
To mark the 30th anniversary of that fateful day, Johannesburg Executive Mayor Amos Masondo unveiled the "June 16, Memorial Acre" at Central Western Jabavu near the Morris Isaacson High School.
It was here where the students started their uprising against the apartheid education.
Led by President Thabo Mbeki, the procession marched from Morris Isaacson, then stopped for a while at the Mofolo bridge, where the late student leader Tsietsi Mashinini is said to have addressed protesting students on that day.
At the bridge, the masses observed an emotional moment of silence in memory of fallen heroes and heroines including Mashinini, who died in Liberia in 1990 in exile.
The march then moved to the Hector Pieterson Memorial Site where Mr Mbeki laid a wreath in honour of the 16 June youth. Later in the day, the President will address a Youth Day rally at Soccer City (FNB Stadium).
Three main roads in the township were closed this morning to accommodate the events of the day.
Machabe, Mlangeni and Mphuti streets in Orlando East and White City Jabavu have been closed since 6am and would be re-opened at noon.
Addressing the crowd at the memorial site, NYC Chairperson Jabu Mbalula called on the private sector and civil society to join government in its efforts to develop the country's youth.
He also urged the youth of today to draw inspiration from the 1976 class and approach the current challenges with the same vigour.
Four Soweto streets will be renamed after residents who took part in the protests. The streets will be named after Mashinini, Lekgau Mathabathe, Danny Kekana and Wycliff Tobo.
The Johannesburg Metropolitan Council is spearheading the name changes.
In addition to the main national event, various regional activities are taking place to commemorate the uprisings.
In North West, Premier Edna Molewa is to address a youth rally at Dr Popo Molefe Stadium in Merafong, Kokotsi, after which kwaito musicians will provide entertainment.
Another event, which is to include a mayor's luncheon and music concert, is to take place at the James Motlatsi stadium.
In Limpopo youth are gathering at the Peter Mokaba stadium where Premier Solly Moloto will give a keynote address. In the Free State a youth rally is taking place at Seisa Ramabodu Stadium in Mangaung.
In the Eastern Cape a Youth Day rally is taking place at Wolfsons Stadium in Kwa-Zakhele, Port Elizabeth. The Western Cape has planned celebrations in Langa.
In the Northern Cape there is to be the unveiling of the Northern Cape Youth Memorial in conjunction with commemorations. This event is taking place in Kimberley.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200606160098.html
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Re: 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died (Re: محمدين محمد اسحق)
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Minister to Launch Book On Soweto Uprising
BuaNews (Tshwane)
NEWS
June 16, 2006
Posted to the web June 16, 2006
Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan will launch a book in Cape Town tomorrow, as part of marking the 30th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising.
Youth 2 Youth - 30 Years After Soweto '76 is a collection of the photographic of young South Africans from the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
The book, being sponsored by the Department of Arts and Culture, is the young people's photographic reflection of how they see South Africa today.
The world renowned photographer, George Hallet assembled and edited the work.
He was assisted by coordinators Shizeeda Osman of Gauteng, Fani Jason of the Western Cape, Rajesh Jantilall and Rafs Mayet of KwaZulu-Natal and Jenny Gorden of the Eastern Cape.
The department said author Mandla Langa wrote a "fitting" foreword. The book has been published by Wits University Press.
The launch will take place at the Book Fair being held at the International Convention Centre (ICC).
http://allafrica.com/stories/200606160355.html
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Re: 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died (Re: محمدين محمد اسحق)
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ثابو امبيكي رئيس جنوب افريقيا قاد مسيرة انطلقت صباح اليوم
الجمعة 16 يونيو 2006 في شوارع سويتو في ذكري انتفاضة الطلاب ..
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
SOWETO, South Africa Jun 16, 2006 (AP)— President Thabo Mbeki led hundreds of South Africans through the streets of this black township on Friday, retracing the steps of student protesters who galvanized the anti-apartheid struggle 30 years ago.
The marchers paused at 9 a.m. for a moment of silence to remember Hector Pieterson, a 13-year-old killed by police who shot at the unarmed demonstrators. His death has come to symbolize the sacrifices of young people in the fight for South Africa's democracy and freedom.
More than 500 young people were estimated killed in the Soweto Uprising and its bloody aftermath. Thousands of others disappeared into detention or fled the country to join the guerrilla fight, forever changing the face of the anti-apartheid struggle.
The uprising started as a student protest against being taught in Afrikaans, the language of white oppressors, which few among the black majority could understand.
Police responded with brutal force, and news of the killings and the riots they unleashed across the country awakened the world to the government's violence.
"This day, National Youth Day, is a moment of thanksgiving dedicated to the young people of our country for the contribution they made to free South Africa from the tyranny of apartheid," Mbeki told a crowd of tens of thousands gathered at a Soweto soccer stadium after the march.
"We remember the youth of 1976 because they have left us a lesson that it is possible for young people to stand up and confront the challenges facing them," he said. "We remember them because we would like the youth gathered here today and their comrades throughout our country to follow their example of unwavering commitment as they confront the modern challenges of poverty and unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse, AIDS and other diseases, illiteracy, women and child abuse."
Martin Mhlanga, 51, injured in a car accident a year ago, watched Friday's march from a wheelchair in front of his home, his pigtailed, 2-year-old niece leaning on his knees. He said he brought her because he wanted her to know about an important moment in her country's history.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2084420
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Re: 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died (Re: محمدين محمد اسحق)
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جنوب افريقيا تتذكر انتفاضة سويتو اليوم
South Africans Remember Soweto Uprising
By Rowan Reid
Johannesburg
16 June 2006
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South Africans have been celebrating the role played by young people in the fight against apartheid, three decades after their protests spawned a movement against white minority rule, which was finally ended in 1994. More than 40,000 people gathered at Johannesburg's main soccer stadium Friday and Rowan Reid was there for VOA.
South African youths hold banner with picture of former Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela during commemoration of 30th anniversary of uprisings in Soweto
National Youth Day is a special holiday for most South Africans. It's held on the anniversary of the day the first children were killed in the struggle against apartheid.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Soweto uprising.
At the FNB soccer stadium outside Johannesburg, more than 40,000 people were bussed in from around the country to celebrate. Most, children born after apartheid had ended. And, while many have little understanding of what happened on that day, they all understand its consequences - freedom.
"From what I know people were suffering at that time this generation now we are more free than those people in 1976," one person said.
"The students of 76 they decided they wanted to stood up fight for their rights but today as 30 years back we are free and we are together," said another man.
Thabo Mbeki stands as national anthem is sung at stadium in Soweto, June 16
Thabo Mbeki joined the celebrations, and thanked the class of 1976 for its contribution to South Africa's democracy. He urged all sectors of society to play a greater role in helping resolve the challenges faced by young people today.
"We remember the youth of 1976 because they have left us a lesson, a lesson that it is possible for young people to stand up and confront the challenges facing them," he said. "We remember them because we would like the youth gathered here today and their comrades throughout our country, to follow their example unwavering commitment as they confront the modern day challenges of poverty and unemployment, of alcohol and drug abuse, of AIDs and other diseases, of illiteracy, women and child abuse and other problems that make the lives of our youth difficult."
Mbeki's speech resonated with the many parents in the stadium who see the challenges of a modern society every bit as dangerous as rioting against the police.
"We need to formalize a good strategy of how can we, when we mobilize the youth of today, to focus for economic development rather than to go to alcohol or drugs abuse or to promote HIV/AIDs," one man said.
Along with the many young people at the tribute, were others who were there to reflect on the changes achieved and to remember fallen heroes.
"Thirty years ago my dad died, on this day. I feel proud because, I brought my daughter, I wish the cameras were here so that they can see, that the world can see that the son of Mosi after 30 years," one man recalled. "For me it's an anniversary, I am celebrating the lives of those who have died for this younger boy."
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-06-16-voa59.cfm
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Re: 16 يونيو 1976 يوم في ذاكرة افريقيا ..مذبحة سويتو قيتو ...The day Hector Pieterson died (Re: محمدين محمد اسحق)
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مبيكي يحي ابطال انتفاضة سويتو ..
[ This article was printed from Sundaytimes.co.za - home of the Sunday Times, South Africa. ]
Mbeki honours heroes of Soweto uprising
Friday June 16, 2006 11:28 - (SA)
President Thabo Mbeki has laid wreaths at the Hector Pieterson memorial site in Soweto as part of the 30th anniversary of the June 16 1976 student uprisings.
Mbeki was accompanied by Minister in the Presidency Dr Essop Pahad, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa and Johannesburg Mayor Amos Masondo.
June 16 Foundation representatives and families of the Class of 1976 also laid wreaths.
Head of the June 16 Foundation, Zweli Sizani, encouraged the youth of today to face up to challenges just like the youth of 1976.
"The young people today face challenges like unemployment and HIV/Aids but if they don't stand up and fight against them they cannot win," said Sizani.
Hundreds of people had gathered at the site in Orlando West, Soweto, to celebrate the day when school children launched protests against apartheid education, which left scores of them dead at the hands of the police.
The group earlier gathered at the Morris Isaacson high school where the day's programme started.
Following the wreath-laying ceremony the crowd moved to the FNB Stadium where Mbeki was expected to address the crowd.
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimesNEW/topst...ories1150450082.aspx
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محمدين محمد اسحق
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست