Today marks the 41 years after the struggle that Soweto students went through fighting for better learning conditions to be in their favor and for fair education. Most young know only that 16 June is the date the Soweto Student Uprising took place they are not well informed about what really happened. South Africa has nothing but sad and infuriating stories to share about their history, baring years of apartheid and oppression. Now, we are free but that doesn’t mean we should forget where we come from. Today we celebrating the tears and blood shed for us to have all that we have today, FREEDOM.
If you feel reading long paragraphs of our history being summarized to us is time consuming and confusing then you just lucky, here we give 10 essential facts one should know about what really occurred on the 16th of June 1976.
1. Over 10 000 black school children from Soweto gathered to march to Orlando Stadium carrying boards that read “Down with Afrikaans and Bantu Education-to hell with it”. They were unarmed. It was a peaceful rally.
2. About 50 000 Policemen tried to stop the students by throwing tear gas and warning gun fire shots. The Police ended up firing directly at them while other ran for shelter, others threw stones back at the policemen.
3. On that day two students suffered the wounds from the gunshot and died instantly, Hector Pieterson and Hastings Ndlovu. A hundred more were severely injured from gunshots.
4. The first march struggle was led by Steve Biko in 1969 trying to address the same issue of not wanting to be taught in Afrikaanse.
5. The effect of the 1976 striking also gave power and courage to others, they fought for their rights for an example in 1973 workers in Durban striked, Angola and Mozambique got liberated to.
6. Black Student enrollment in schools increased.
7. Sam Nzima is the name of the photographer that took the famous picture of a dying Hector Pieterson.
8. During the struggle, all of apartheid’s government building in Soweto were burnt down.
9. On the second day of the uprising, the violence sp[read across the whole country in all other nearby townships.
10. The students organized the mass protest in Soweto during mid-year exams.
