While 16 June is recognised as ‘Youth Day’ to honour the 1976 student protests against the forced use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in Black schools, its significance goes far beyond a public holiday. The Soweto Uprising was a defining moment in South Africa’s struggle against apartheid. The brutal police response, and the killing of Hector Pieterson and hundreds of schoolchildren sparked nationwide protests that shocked the world and drew fierce international condemnation.
This uprising grew into the largest mass resistance to apartheid in the country’s history. It was led by those who ignited the rebellion of 1976 and laid the groundwork for the launch of the UDF in August 1983. The period from 1976 to 1983 channelled outrage into organised resistance against the atrocities of apartheid — from the Sharpeville massacre to the murder of Steve Bantu Biko, the Cradock Four, and many others. It included the incarceration and torture of those charged in the Delmas and Pietermaritzburg Treason Trials, and the mass detentions without trial of hundreds of thousands under State of Emergency laws.
The apartheid regime armed collaborators in the homelands, in the Natal region (now KwaZulu-Natal), and the migrant worker hostels of the PWV region of the then-Transvaal (now Gauteng) in an attempt to crush the rebellion. But their efforts failed. The Mass Democratic Movement (MDM), led by the UDF and supported by South Africans from all walks of life, brought apartheid to its knees and helped realise our liberation.
On 16 June 2025, the United Democratic Front (UDF) commemorated this history and honoured those who sacrificed everything in the fight for freedom.
The day began with a march through the streets of Rustenburg. It started at the Old Rustenburg Gaol, where wreaths were laid and stories shared. Struggle veterans spoke of the pain still carried by those who were imprisoned under apartheid. The march was not only an act of remembrance — it was a renewed call for justice.
Comrade Jo Mboweni, a 1976 student activist and UDF stalwart, delivered a powerful speech that moved many, especially the youth, to tears. He described his teenage years in prison — the freezing cells, relentless interrogations, and tear gas that burned their lungs and crushed their spirits.
“We faced tear gas then,” he said. “Today, we face broken promises.”
He drew a direct link between the violence of the past and the crisis of the present: 46.1% youth unemployment, deepening inequality, and rampant corruption.
From the Gaol, the march continued to Ben Marais Hall, where generations gathered — old and young, veterans and students, citizens and activists — united in memory, and in their shared commitment to building the South Africa we still dream of.
