The class of 1976 has been swallowed by political events in South Africa and has lost focus on the original goals of the Black Consciousness Movement to establish one person, one vote of equal value for all citizens.

In 1976, the students at Morris Isaacson High School and many others in Soweto rose up to challenge the might of the apartheid State. They rose up against the introduction of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction at African secondary schools.

This was at the peak of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), from the struggles that started with the emergence of the South African Students Organisation (Saso) in 1968, led by Steve Biko, Barney Pityana and others; the Black People's Convention (BPC) in 1972; and the South African Students Movement, of which many in the 16 June 1976 leadership were members.

The state arrested the Saso/BPC leadership after they called rallies in solidarity with Frelimo in September 1974, convicting Saths Cooper, Muntu Myeza, Patrick "Terror" Lekota, Aubrey Nchaupe Mokoape, Pandelani Nefolovhodwe, Nkwenkwe Nkomo, Kaborone Sedibe, Zithulele Cindi and Strini Moodley in December 1976.

Movement diluted

At the first democratic general elections in South Africa in April 1994, nearly two decades after the 16 June 1976 uprising, the class of 1976 and the BCM were scattered across the political spectrum of South Africa.

The majority joined the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party in droves. Some...