A VISIT to the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum in South Africa was an intriguing experience to a group of journalists from diverse African countries.
The museum was named in honour of one of the first students to be gunned down during the oppressive apartheid era that haunted South Africa for years on end.
Killed at the tender age of 13 in 1976, Hector Pieterson's name has over the years become symbolic among those who waged war against apartheid.
The uprising started on June 16, 1976 as a peaceful protest march organised by students in Soweto schools.
One of their main grievances was the introduction of Afrikaans as a language of the oppressor, to be used as a medium of instruction in all African schools in South Africa.
Hundreds of students joined the protest march organised by the South African Student Movement (SASM), from various central points heading for one of the area's famous stadia, the Orlando stadium in Orlando East, where they intended to meet with authorities to voice out their grievances.
They carried placards with messages like: "Away with Afrikaans", "Amandla Awehtu" (Power to the people), "Free Azania" (Free South Africa).
While they also chanted anti-apartheid songs like Nkosi Sikele Africa (God Bless Africa), now the national anthem of South Africa.
Inside the museum are fresh memories which one is met with as one goes around the museum which has two floors full of photographic and audio-visual displays depicting the struggle of the youths against the injustices of apartheid then.
In Orlando West, police confronted the marchers and ordered them to disperse.
Despite the peaceful nature of the march, the confrontation turned violent and it was then that a number of students, including Pieterson, were shot and killed.
What began as a student march quickly erupted into an uprising, which spread to many other parts of the country like wild fire. And that was the beginning of the end of apartheid in South Africa.
A group of journalists from Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, attending a two week course organised by the Nordic-SADC Journalism Institute (NSJ), that visited the museum recently could not hide their emotions as they were going around, alongside tourists.
Some of the most emotive pictures displayed include a photograph captured by Sam Nzima of a boy Mbuuyiswa, carrying the critically injured Hector in his arms.
This is the picture that captured the attention of people throughout the world and highlighted the fight against the injustices of apartheid.
After the 1976 uprising, records in this museum show how a heightened political awareness saw the emergence of new leaders such as Cyril Ramaphosa, Murphy Morobe, Popo Molefe, Tsietsi Mashinini, Seth Mazibuko and Khotso Seatlholo.
Local civic organisations strengthened their campaigns, and scores of young men and women crossed the country's borders to join the military wings of the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
Many were imprisoned on Robben Island (off the coast near Cape Town), where the younger generation learnt much from their older African National Congress (ANC) and PAC comrades who were already there.
One of the resultant factors is that Robben Island has become known as the "Robben Island University" in the new and free South Africa.
It can be recognised that the 1976 student uprising changed the course of the South African history and accelerated a variety of demands by the black populous.
Such demands as those calling for the release of political prisoners, the lifting of a ban for political organisations and formation of a new democratic South Africa.
After the first democratic elections on June 16, 1964, "Youth Day" was declared to commemorate the contribution made by South Africa's youth to struggle against apartheid.
A memorial site where Hector was shot at was erected in the early 1990s, situated in Khumalo Street in the city.
Even a new structure opened at the site in 2002 houses photographic and audio-visual displays of the struggle of the youth against the injustices of apartheid.
After going around the museum one will understand why South Africans love their culture so much and of course why they are very proud of their language.
The museum is also spread with placards and print and broadcast pictures on how the South African's suffered at the hands of the white oppressor.
Some videos depict police beating a couple and their children while others show how people were being slaughtered like chickens.
Some graffiti in the museums read "Manipulating the Media." Where it could, the government used the media to pacify the South Africa public.
The South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and SABC network (television) were used as propaganda tools. The same applied to radio stations.
In October 1977, minister of justice Jimmy Kruger acted against the black Press, banning 18 publications including the World and Weekend, World and Percy Qubaza. The editors were also detained.
Other graffiti read in part : "Whose stories should we remember?"
"Whose calls for an ongoing process of commemorating should memories and considering what others have to tell.
We learn from the past in the present and we learn about ourselves from the way we remember the past."
"The stories people tell about the past contribute to the understanding of who we are of the identity of individuals and a nation in the present," the graffiti said.
And some placards which were written during the 1976 uprising read; "Eradication of Afrikaans and to hell with Afrikaans, Black power, don't shoot we are not fighting power.
"How long will the black man suffer -- colour don't count. What counts is that a man is a Christian in front of God."
All the placards, despite being written many years ago, have been kept in the museum to remind not only the visitors but also South Africans on their long struggle for freedom.
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The other familiar face was that of the late Steve Biko the revolutionary who was slain in September, 1977.
Many young people were inspired by the ideas of Biko and the black consciousness movement he led, giving them the necessary impetus to resist the Bantu education system introduced by the apartheid government in the 1950s.
This system, dubbed "gutter education," was designed to train African people to accept a subservient role in apartheid society in the South Africa of that day.
But while still enjoying the educative visit, some concerned South Africans dashed into the museum telling the journalists to hurry because the minibus had been stolen.
In a spontaneous reaction, the group of visiting scribes rushed out of the museum just in time to see the bus being driven away at high speed by a group of ten armed robbers.
Fortunately enough, the crack South African police within 30 minutes found the minibus abandoned near Orlando stadium without the seat belts and a battery.
The security firm at the museum arranged for our transport back to Tecknikon South Africa centre, where we were residing.
However, the minibus incident did not rob us the sweetness of our memories over the good days of excitement during the entire two weeks at the training centre.
The visit to the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum is still a memorable event.
