16 th June Celebrations – Message from Lisakhanya Bandla ( Chairperson of
RCL )
Every year on the 16th of June we as South Africans pay tribute to the students who fought and
lost their lives in the 1976 Soweto uprisings. There are great lessons to be learnt from the 1976
uprisings. We as the youngsters of today may not be fighting for the same thing but there are
things we also need to liberate ourselves from such as unemployment, poverty and crime.
We as the young people of today need to build a better future for ourselves and liberate ourselves
from circumstances and take up opportunities. We need to adopt a mindset of independency and
be empowered to do things for ourselves for our own personal growth and development.
We must use these opportunities and education to implement change in the society so that other
young people realize the benefits of the uprisings. Let us be the generation of young people that
keeps the knowledge of our history conscious as an encouragement to create generational wealth
and success. Today as I stand here I fight and strive to change the socio-economic environment
of my country one day when I leave school. But as a young person sitting here today, ask
yourself WHAT DO YOU FIGHT FOR?