Tomorrow, as we commemorate the deaths of hundreds of Soweto schoolchildren, who lost their lives in the struggle against Apartheid and Bantu Education. Gauteng Department of Local Government and Housing has progressively strengthened the quality of education and improved access to educational institutions in the province.
Under Alexandra renewal Project, 13 primary schools, five secondary schools and one special school, repairs and renovations have been made to 17 of the schools.
A total of 77 educators had undergone a one-year training and mentoring programme in four primary schools. The Kwabhekilanga rugby grounds and new eight-track athletics stadium are to be shared by the school and the broader community.
In Cosmo City, Six schools have been completed and are up and running. One's eye is inadvertently drawn to S'godiphola Secondary School, with its cobalt blue roof. More than 1 000 learners are enrolled. Also referred to as the hotel school, some of the learners will start specialising in hospitality studies or information technology once they reach Grade 10.
The department has ensured that the memories lives and are shared, and the lessons learnt become imprinted on our collective conscience. Equally, we also want to make this metaphor real, and provide the youth tangible hope and better future.
Background
On the morning of June 16, 1976, thousands of black students walked from their schools to Orlando Stadium for a rally to protest against having to learn through Afrikaans in school. Many students who later participated in the protest arrived at school that morning without prior knowledge of the protest, yet agreed to become involved. The protest was intended to be peaceful and had been carefully planned by the Soweto Students’ Representative Council’s (SSRC) Action Committee, with support from the wider Black Consciousness Movement. Teachers in Soweto also supported the march after the Action Committee emphasized good discipline and peaceful action.
Tsietsi Mashininini led students from Morris Isaacson High School to join up with others who walked from Naledi High School. The students began the march only to find out that police had barricaded the road along their intended route. The leader of the action committee asked the crowd not to provoke the police and the march continued on another route, eventually ending up near Orlando High School. The crowd of between 3,000 and 10,000 students made their way towards the area of the school. Students sang and wove placards with slogans such as, "Down with Afrikaans", "Viva Azania" and "If we must do Afrikaans, Vorster must do Zulu".
A 2006 BBC/SABC documentary corroborated the testimony of Colonel Kleingeld, the police officer who fired the first shot, with eyewitness accounts from both sides. In Kleingeld's account, some of the children started throwing stones as soon as they spotted the police patrol, while others continued to march peacefully. Police attempts to calm the crowd verbally, or to disperse the students using dogs and tear gas had no effect. One of the police dogs was caught, set alight and beaten to death. When police saw they were surrounded by the students, they fired shots into the crowd, and pandemonium broke out.
Colonel Kleingeld drew his handgun and fired a shot, causing panic and chaos. Students started screaming and running and more gunshots were fired. The first person to be shot was Hastings Ndlovu, followed by 12-year-old Hector Pieterson. The photograph taken of his body became a symbol of police brutality.
The rioting continued and 23 people, including two white people, died on the first day in Soweto. Among them was Dr Melville Edelstein, who had devoted his life to social welfare among blacks. He was stoned to death by the mob and left with a sign around his neck proclaiming 'Beware Afrikaaners'.
The violence escalated as the students panicked; bottle stores and beerhalls were targeted as many believed that alcohol was used by the government to control black people. The violence abated by nightfall. Police vans and armored vehicles patrolled the streets throughout the night.
Emergency clinics were swamped with injured and bloody children. It is not known how many injured children sustained bullet wounds because doctors refused to collect such details for fear that police would target the families of such children. In many cases bullet wounds were indicated on hospital records as abscesses.
Emotions ran high after the massacre on June 16. Hostility between students and the police was intense, with officers shooting at random and more people joining the protesters. The township youth had been frustrated and angry for a long time and the riots became the opportunity to bring to light their grievances.
The 1,500 heavily armed police officers deployed to Soweto on June 17 carried weapons including automatic rifles, stun guns, and carbines. They drove around in armoured vehicles with helicopters monitoring the area from the sky. The South African Army was also order on standby as a tactical measure to show military force. Crowd control methods used by South African police at the time included mainly dispersement techniques, and many of the officers shot indiscriminately, killing many people.
Issued by: Department of Housing, Gauteng Provincial Government
15 June 2009
Source: Department of Housing, Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gpghousing.gov.za)
