Half a century after an uprising that helped end apartheid in South Africa, little remains on the streets of Soweto to remind us of the bloodshed that took place there . At least 176 people were killed when police opened fire on Black schoolchildren protesting the apartheid government's introduction of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in Black schools.
"The 1976 struggle was a... Overall, it was a fight against apartheid, but we knew there was a pillar of that apartheid system that we had to attack, and that was education," explained Seth Mazibuko, student leader of the 1976 Soweto uprising.
One of the most striking symbols of the Soweto uprising is 13-year-old Hector Pieterson, whose lifeless body was photographed being carried by another student moments after he was shot dead by police.
This image, taken by South African photographer Sam Nzima, shocked the world and became a symbol of the brutality of apartheid.
“...The police were there, on the corner, at that corner, and we, the parents, went outside, and I couldn't believe my eyes. And in all that commotion, this little boy, Hector Pieterson, came from that direction, and I told them, ‘Don't go that way, those policemen are shooting, don't go that way.’ And before my words had even finished ringing, they shot the little boy, and he fell right here, right here. He didn't die there, he fell here…” recounted Mrs. Sixolo, a resident of Soweto, a witness to the massacre perpetrated by the apartheid police during the 1976 uprising.
According to Seth Mazibuko, a former student leader and survivor, the erased traces of the uprising in the streets of Soweto are more than just a deficiency in urban maintenance: they symbolize a nation that fails to honor the legacy of Soweto or to deliver the future for which its children died.
“...the new spirit and movement emerging today are those that say we are going to fight. And we are saying to many of these young people: we don't want bullets anymore, we don't want blood anymore, what we want now is the ballot box. [ ... ] I always tell young people: guys, we did it for you, you know, with our blood. Please do it for us, with your sweat and with your ballot,” added Seth Mazibuko.
After the end of apartheid in 1994, the new democratic government declared June 16 "National Youth Day" , a public holiday intended to honor the uprising.
