As South Africa marked Youth Day last Saturday, young people from different areas met at the Beautiful Gate South Africa in Philippi East to discuss what the national holiday means to them these days.
They asked whether it should be celebrated or commemorated. The June 16, 1976 protests by students saw the youth rise up against apartheid’s system of Bantu Education.
With the atmosphere lively and celebratory, more than 100 young people and seniors gathered to reflect on Youth Day.
Youth focused on the debate but also celebrated the day in song and with poems. Minoh Koela, staff development at Beautiful Gate South Africa, said the day signifies the struggles, sacrifices and victories of youth of 1976.
She said the day gives youth a platform to reflect on a time when young people stood up to demand better education.
“But today, in a modern South Africa, youths are here to discuss their own challenges. The challenges of 1976 are different to those of today. Another challenge is how young people of today do things, but they are here to discuss whether we should be celebrating or commemorating this day,”
Many of those gathered did not seem to care whether people celebrate or commemorate Youth Day. Most felt there was no difference between the two.
But Ms Koela was happy with young people’s contribution to the discussion. “They showed that they are tomorrow’s leaders. Some came from as far as Strand to be part of the event. That to us is a big contribution and shows responsibility from their side. They even talked more about social challenges,” she said. Ms Koela said the organisation’s intention was to give the youth of Philippi an opportunity to express themselves creatively and also confront some of the realities that come with being young and black in post-apartheid South Africa. Not only performing poets, young people showed their talents by singing songs that define them. The event was also in collaboration with CA Entertainment and Nxele Services, who said they were happy to have brought all the different young performers together.
Mqeqeshi Maawu, coordinator of Nxele Services, said Philippi East is riddled with crime and an event like Youth Day brought youth together so they could discuss the challenges. “In an event like this young people are bound to come out with solutions. But the truth is crime here is on the rise and we need to deal with it as young people. I am happy they also touched more on drugs, substance abuse and crime in general,” she said. A young poet from Strand, Liso Ngqunge believes young people’s dreams are still not being fulfilled. He said youth still struggle to get a university education, and those who have it are unemployed. He felt that today’s youth should emulate those of 1976 by fighting hard for jobs and free education. For that reason, he said the day should not be celebrated but commemorated.