16 June
2017 theme: “The year of OR Tambo: Advancing Youth Economic Empowerment”
This year Youth Day will be commemorated in Ventersdorp, North West Province. President Jacob Zuma will deliver the keynote address.
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The 2016 Youth day is commemorates the Soweto Uprising. The uprisings tragically ended with hundreds of young people killed by the apartheid government when they protested against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
Youth Day commemorates the Soweto youth uprising of 16 June 1976.
In 1975 protests started in African schools after a directive from the then Bantu Education Department that Afrikaans had to be used on an equal basis with English as a language of instruction in secondary schools.
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Speeches, statements and advisories:
