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Youth must plan for big things

BEFORE 1994 we could blame all our hardships and struggles on apartheid and go uneducated and say that education was only for whites.

BEFORE 1994 we could blame all our hardships and struggles on apartheid and go uneducated and say that education was only for whites.

In those days it was understandable why we lived in four-roomed houses and we aimed at being gardeners and maids while our dreams were limited and failure came about so easily.

But when change came in 1994 and South Africa saw a new dawn we were reassured that we were not forgotten and that our chance was yet to come.

What was once meant for the elite is now in our hands. What they said we could never do is now our footstool. What our people fought for is now the reason we can never give up.

The youth have become so ignorant of our past achievements that they have forgotten what it took so that they too could sit on those very chairs and be handed opportunity after opportunity.

They have grown lazy, and by so doing brought on to themselves pregnancy, crime and Aids. They have become oblivious to what democracy means.

Blood was shed, lives were lost and tears were shed so our children could have a better life, a brighter future and to put our black nation where it deserves to be - and that's on top.

The youth need to realise that friends are not forever, popularity does not make you a success and crime is demeaning to our race.

They need to begin the hard work, plan for big things, lose bad company and liberate themselves with a positive attitude.

Anele Makhubo, Kempton Park

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