The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will facilitate a number of social dialogues with intentions to educate the youths about sacrifices made by an anti-apartheid struggle icon Charlotte Maxeke. The dialogues will also focus on roles played by 1976 youths against apartheid. The conversations will be rolled out as part of Northern Cape Provincial Government's Youth Month programmes, making sure that the significance of Youth Day is celebrated throughout the province. The events will be a mixture of indoor and outdoor activities considering strict adherence to Covid-19 Alert Level Two regulations. They will be commemorated under the theme "“The Year of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke: Growing youth employment for an inclusive and transformed society.
The Frances Baard District will see youths converge in Kimberley during a Kasi Festival, Aerobic Session and a dialogue on Age of Covid-19. The district will also roll out Netball Tournament at Tommy Morebodi Multi-Purpose Centre as well as a Take a Boy Child to the Theatre programme. The department will unveil a series of political and recreational programmes in various parts of Namakwa and ZF Mgcawu Districts while the youths in John Taolo Gaetsewe District will be treated to a workshop in drama.
The 2021 National Youth Month marks the 45th anniversary of 16 June 1976 student uprising in Soweto when young people protested against imposition of Afrikaans by the apartheid regime as a medium of instruction. The uprising ended tragically with hundreds of young people being brutally killed.
Students from Carlton Van Heerden,(Upington) William Pescod(Kimberley) and Tshireleco High Schools (Kimberley) from the Northern Cape added their voices in condemning gutter Bantu education and its racist intent to force Afrikaans as a medium of instruction on all South Africans. Following the advent of democracy in 1994, the new democratic government declared 16 June as National Youth Day and June as the Youth Month.
Media enquiries:
Northern Cape Sport, Arts and Culture Department
Tel: 053 807 4782
Cell: 078 944
