JUNE 16 is a very important and sad day for all progressive Africans.
It was on this day in 1976 that the horrors of colonialism reared their ugly head.
Seven-hundred schoolchildren were brutally massacred in what we now call The Soweto Uprising.
The children were raising a fundamental point when fire was opened on them by the apartheid regime.
They were angry that they were being forced to learn in the language of their oppressor, Afrikaans.
Theirs was not the anger of South Africans alone, it was a continental problem.
Such is the impact of this sad incident that today, the story is an inspiration to many, especially those who did not go to war.
It was at the height of our struggle when this incident happened.
Thousands of our youths, driven by the desire to free their country from unmitigated expropriation of their land and unabated control and plunder of their resources, took a stand.
They took up arms against a system that was blatantly hostile to them.
They took up arms against an ideology alien to their way of living and thinking.
They took up arms against abuse of their humanity.
These were vibrant youths who could articulate our story, our humanity and our history.
These are the vibrant youths who became the vanguard of our ideology and our revolution.
As we traverse this journey to the prosperity and economic emancipation of our people, that youth, save for a few who show occasional flashes of brilliance, is no more.
That kind of youth seems to have disappeared.
These were not sponsored youth.
They rose, not for money.
Deep down they knew the story of their people, they knew their capabilities and knew their enemy.
They were not fooled; they would not be tricked with trinkets.
My heart yearns for more youths of that nature, of that unflinching ideological making.
The imperialist has not given up; he still wants what is ours.
He wants to erase from our memory the essence of our struggle.
Our struggle that began in the 1890s is not yet over.
We continue to fight to be totally in control of our nation and this is a battle that requires all of us, especially the youths.
We cannot return the country to our erstwhile colonisers and the fight is not just for the older generation.
In recent weeks we have looked and showed how some organisations have been created to corrupt our people.
And those who have been targeted to deliver the poison to our people are our youths.
Naturally so because they are energetic and sometimes gullible.
But our youths, like those boys and girls from Soweto, must be infused with a deep sense of who they are.
Nationhood has no room for self-interest.
Our birthright cannot be sold, not for any amount.
It is time our youths see the bigger picture.
What future do they desire for future youths?
As stated elsewhere in the paper, the national heritage should not just be a summation of what each individual leaves in their family estates.
Let us today have youths who will be subjects of songs and source of inspiration, not those whose names will be associated with selling out.
Our youths must be imbued with the values that drove the Soweto Youths to confront the apartheid machinery.