Statement by Patricia de Lille
Leader of GOOD
16 June 2021
Young people must become active participants in building their futures again
When the youth of 1976 stepped up to confront apartheid’s biggest bullies, soldiers and police bristling with guns, truncheon’s and teargas, the only weapon they carried was their determination to participate in their own future.
It is this courage that we commemorate on 16 June; this leadership under fire in the face of overwhelming odds.
Forty-five years later, much has changed in South Africa – but too much remains the same.
Working class families are still fundamentally disadvantaged and excluded from the mainstream economy. Parents are losing hope, as they did in the brutal 1970s, while their children struggle desperately for jobs and better futures.
The world is moving on, changing rapidly and irreversibly, with young people at the forefront of the technological revolution and confronting the biggest issues of our times such as climate change and inequality. South Africa’s youth must not allow themselves to be left behind.
In 1976, beginning in Soweto and rapidly spreading across the country, young people rejected the future that was being designed for them.
In 2021 young people must do the same. They must reject a future that is more unequal, more marginalising and more unsustainable than ever.
They must reject this future on the basis of their understanding with greater clarity than their parents things such as global warming, technology, equal rights and sexual orientation.
The youth have more power over their destiny than many might think. They must switch on that power by participating, guiding, leading.
This year’s local government elections are a good place to start.
Municipalities don’t just deliver services to adults; it is their responsibility to serve entire communities. To deliver living environments conducive to development, and to help pierce the false ceilings that stop young South Africans from achieving their dreams.
Ends…