Lest we forget great sacrifice

15 June 2007 - 02:00
By unknown

Tomorrow South Africa will commemorate Youth Day in memory of the gallant forays made by black youths who stood up to the military might of the apartheid regime to protest Bantu Education.

Tomorrow South Africa will commemorate Youth Day in memory of the gallant forays made by black youths who stood up to the military might of the apartheid regime to protest Bantu Education.

It's a day widely renowned to have mapped a new path in the struggle for a free South Africa.

Sadly, over the past decade Youth Day commemorations have shown how the day has paled in significance among today's youth who seem to have no memory of this milestone and its impact on the history of this country.

Yet it's not only June 16 that seems to be diminishing in the collective memory of South Africans, other commemorative days have gradually been greeted with shocking indifference.

June 16 is a day to be treated with respect and dignity by the youth who should remember the sacrifices made by their brethren during the apartheid era.

Shamefully the day is still marked today by subtle divisions over who was the real political force behind the 1976 upheavals. The youth rose in unison in that year to fight a common enemy.

United the youth should stand.