A symbolic Youth Day parade commemorating the 1976 Soweto Uprising saw young South Africans flood the capital city’s streets. More than 1000 people braved the cold to march from Loftus Versfeld Stadium to the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation’s Youth Activism Programme, together with almost 100 civil society groups mobilised on Youth Day to demand government action.
“Young people face so many crises. This memo shows us that there are so many issues we are facing. We are hoping that the government listens and takes heed of the message of young people who are here nonpartisan in nature,” said Irfaan Mangera, who is the Programme Manager at the Foundation.
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Youth Day memorandum
Youth leaders handed over a memorandum of demands to The Presidency on behalf of the gathered youth. The overarching demands contained in the Memorandum were:
- Sustainable and meaningful jobs,
- Representation of youth in the government,
- A universal basic income grant,
- Access to tertiary education, and address the issues in basic education,
- An end to GBV and femicide,
- An end to crime,
- Action to address climate change,
- Quality public healthcare, housing, and sanitation.
“We are here because our struggles are intersectional. We are here because of issues of education, land, gender, electricity [and] climate change,” said Tebogo Tsesane from Equal Education, adding that “we should note that the struggle of 1976 was around the issues of education”.
“We all have a task to ensure that the struggle doesn’t die. The struggle is in our hands, and we are supposed to ensure that the future generations are able to say the youth of 2022 were able to fight against the injustices of the day,” he said.
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Looking towards the future
The youth day parade, according to youth leaders, was the result of overboiling frustration over the State’s inaction. While many, like Faeeza Lok from the Voice of the People Movement, expressed optimism, others believe the outlook is dull if the status quo remains.
“These are things we’ve been hearing from 1994. The promises that have been made are nowhere to be seen. Our leaders have betrayed us. Many schools in rural areas do not even receive their textbooks and students at universities still have to fight every year to register,” said the Palestine Solidarity Alliance’s Youth League Chairperson Altaf Adam.
“Our future is looking very dull. Unemployment is spiralling out of control and the cost of living rising to unbearable points. Youth unemployment is 65.5%. We’re still sitting jobless, homeless and in debt,” he said.
Meanwhile, Yumna Patel, the founder of Project O, said: “[We] reclaimed Youth Day! In awe of just how young our comrades were today and how much passion they bring. May our fight be the change needed to give them – and us – a future they deserve.”
Youth Day Parade for social justice and change, live from the Union Buildings Gardens Pretoria. #YouthDay2022 https://t.co/8GMrLfWDNg
— SM Digital (@SMDigital17) June 16, 2022
