Soweto — The now-famous image of a young man, holding a dying schoolboy in his arms, as his hysterical sister runs alongside screaming, dominated the 25th anniversary commemoration Saturday of the Soweto Uprising, when South Africa's black youth challenged the white apartheid government. The events of June 16, 1976 marked a turning point in South Africa's political history and are now marked with a public holiday, Youth Day.
President Thabo Mbeki, wearing running shoes led a march retracing the steps of a student demonstration which ended in confrontation with the apartheid police. Their first victim, that fateful June 16, was the 13 year-old schoolchild, Hector Petersen, whose near-lifeless body in the arms of Mbuyisa Makhubo came to symbolize the struggle of the youth of South Africa.
The aim of the protest by the Soweto schoolchildren was to prevent the white government imposing Afrikaans as the language of instruction for black pupils. They already suffered discrimination under an inferior 'Bantu' education curriculum, created especially by the apartheid regime. June 16, 1976, and the defiant young black opposition to white rule, led to many South Africans of that generation stopping their studies or going into exile. Some never went back to school.
On Saturday, Mbeki was joined in Soweto by thousands of marchers - men, women and children, young, old and middle-aged and overwhelming black. They started the four kilometre (2.5 mile) walk at Morris Isaacson High School, one of the schools in Soweto where the students, unarmed, assembled to march against the authorities.
Zanele, a 12 year old Soweto schoolgirl, who took part in the march on Saturday, said she was there to remember Hector Petersen and what he meant to her generation.
The photograph of Mbuyisa holding Hector, taken by local photographer, Sam Nzima, 63, was reprinted on banners, posters, flyers and t-shirts worn by children and adults who sang, danced and toyi toyi'd as they walked towards the Hector Petersen Memorial in Soweto, located close to where the young boy was killed 25 years ago.
Nzima's world-famous photo of the dying Hector appeared in newspapers and on television screens all over the globe, sparking outrage and a new awareness which, many say, hardened opposition to the brutality of the apartheid authorities in and outside South Africa.
The theme of the 25th anniversary Soweto Uprising commemoration was 'non-racialism, a youth vision for the 21st century.' But President Mbeki noted that most of the people who attended the celebrations in Soweto were black. He said he hoped future events of this kind would be more 'representative' of the South African population.
Mbeki, flanked by cabinet ministers and officials and the families of Hector Peterson and Mbuyisa Makhubo - as well as South African sports' personalities from the world of soccer, rugby, athletics and netball - was the first to lay a wreath at the Petersen Memorial which has become a shrine in Soweto for visitors at home and abroad.
Lucas Radebe, former captain of the South African national football squad, Bafana Bafana, and Leeds' United skipper, attended the wreath-laying ceremony, after which he told allAfrica.com: "I am here today, especially as a sportsman who has come out of Diepkloof (Soweto) to reach this level and be able to represent my country. And hopefully, by me giving support and lending a hand, this will give hopes to these kids with ambition to reach where I am."
Speaking later at Orlando Stadium in Soweto, President Mbeki urged the current generation of young South Africans to face new challenges and defend their nation's hard-won democracy. He implored the youth to stay away from crime and drugs, and to vote. Mbeki also cautioned them to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS. "When it is said that people should use condoms, the reason that it is said is because we want to save the lives of our young people. So the youth of our country has a responsibility to look after itself." Up to 11 percent of South Africans (4.7 million people) are estimated to be HIV-positive, with the most rapid spread of the virus among 15 to 20 year olds.
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The otherwise festive occasion in Soweto was marred by an troubled encounter between President Mbeki and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former President Nelson Mandela and the popular head of the Women's League of the governing African National Congress (ANC).
Mrs Madikizela-Mandela arrived late for the June 16 commemoration at Orlando Stadium, to loud and enthusiastic applause from the crowd and chants of 'Winnie, Winnie, Winnie', interrupting a speech by a youth leader. As she climbed onto the stage and leaned forward to greet Mbeki with an embrace in full view of the crowd, the president looked visibly irritated and brushed aside her kiss in a brusque gesture that made Madikizela-Mandela's baseball cap fall off. After the very public rebuff, she took a seat at the far end of the podium, well away from President Mbeki.
