Programme Director: Mme Molebatsi, MEC for Sports, Recreation Arts and Culture
The Acting Mayor of Joburg Councillor Mme Mally Mokoena
The Mashinini family
MECs here present
Ministers here present
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Members of parliament
Councillors here present
The June 16 Foundation
Each One Teach One Foundation
Leaders of the youth movement
People of Gauteng
We are here to commemorate the 38th anniversary of the June 16 Soweto Uprising. We are remembering the bravery of those young people who stood firm and remained principled in fighting the apartheid system, which was aimed at making us inferior and less of a people.
We will never forget their commitment to the course, the love they had for us and for this country. They died for freedom.
This year we are celebrating twenty years of freedom and democracy because of their sacrifices.
We are here next to Morris Isaacson (High) to open The June 16 Memorial Acre to ensure that the story is told and that future generations know where we come from as a people.
We want to make sure that we preserve and promote our rich cultural heritage. We want to write our history as we all know it - it will no longer be the history of the conqueror.
I would like to congratulate those who were involved in collecting the history and ensuring the accurate narration of the struggle of the 70s generation.
We must therefore ensure that this heritage centre comes alive and all schools in the township bring school children to learn about this important part of our history.
In fact, we must, through the Department of Basic Education, ensure that this becomes part of our curriculum so that we produce a knowledgeable society that loves its country, can sing the national anthem with pride and continue to promote our national symbols.
Having completed this work, we now hand it over to the City of Joburg, the people of Gauteng and, in particular, the people of Soweto to manage.
Please protect this facility, promote it and ensure that this forms part of our liberation heritage.
We will ensure that the rest of Gauteng has similar facilities wherein we will indeed tell our history, teach future generations about where we come from and we are going as a nation.
To the youth of our province; please work with us. We want to make your lives better and one of the most important things is education and (more) education.
We will, therefore, working with our educators; parents and civil society ensure that you receive quality education. We want you to compete with the rest of the world.
We will ensure that the youth are part of the mainstream economy. We will continue to invest in small and medium enterprises, build co-operatives and implement youth preferential policies.
We will also ensure that youth benefits from our public works programmes. We also urge the youth to say no drugs and crime.
Let us create communities wherein we all live in harmony with one another. Thank you and I love you all!
