In his letter "English recolonises youth" Phillimon Mnisi refers to today's youth as the lost generation. He argues that they colonise themselves with English - which is a foreign language - as opposed to the 1976 youth who fought against the imposition of Afrikaans.

In his letter "English recolonises youth" Phillimon Mnisi refers to today's youth as the lost generation. He argues that they colonise themselves with English - which is a foreign language - as opposed to the 1976 youth who fought against the imposition of Afrikaans.

This is confusing. There is nothing wrong with young people adopting English as a medium of communication if this is by choice. This at least shows that freedom of choice, as a pillar of our young democracy, is safe.

It should also be noted that Afrikaans was not rejected because it was a foreign language, but because of its links with the tyrannical apartheid regime.

To label us as a lost generation is naive if we still have people questioning the relevance of June 16 today. Who is to blame? Who is really lost? The youth or the elderly?

The problem lies with the current architects of knowledge production within the black intelligentsia who rigorously question the relevance of the events that precipitated our emancipation.

You will never hear our white counterparts questioning the celebratory mood of December 16 in a new South Africa.

This is the issue that needs to be looked at critically.

Shai Kgothatso, Pretoria