Youth of 1976 vs Youth of 2016

Still on the subject of Youth Day, what is the difference between the youth of  1976 and 2016 (40 years after 16 June 1976)?

Nothing, just nothing! The words of Winnie Mandela are just as applicable as in 1976 as in 2016 as in 2017:

  "With our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country.” 

And every reasonable person will think that South Africa was liberated in 1994.

Seems not the case, or it seems more that 1976 was not about Apartheid, or the Bantu Education System, or Afrikaans.

It was more about this is Africa, this is the way of doing things!

Decide for yourself!

The Naked Reality of Youth Day 2017 in South Africa

Earlier today (16 June 2017) I took a stroll to Shoprite in Putfontein Road Cloverdene to buy bread.

When I was on my way back in Cloverdene Road a young boy (later introduced as July) greeted me friendly in Afrikaans and asked 'My baas R5 vir 'n brood asseblief' clapping his hands together pleading.

When asked how old he is and if he is in school July responded that he is 19 years old and not in school but he has passed 'form 6', whatever it maybe, I assumed it is standard 6 or grade 8 as it is called now?

When I told him I don't give money to beggars, he asked for a job. Then I told him that he should join the club - Myself are too white, too male, too qualified and too old to be employed. I could have been nasty and told him to ask the ANC for a job but he would just waste his time. But I referred him to the DA because Mmusi Maimane constantly brag how he and his party would create jobs like no one's business.

The moral of the story is that on  this Youth Day 2017, while the ANC and the DA will try to get some political mileage out of 16 June 1976, the naked reality is that there are youths like July, only speaking Afrikaans to beg for some bread money from a white man, who are worse off than before 1994 and although he has the right to vote and indeed voted last year in the municipal elections, could not better his current situation.

A variation on an old adage: 'While Zuma and his ANC are singing ABBA's "Money, Money, Money", youths like July have a bleak, bleak, bleak future'.

And you cannot blame Jan van Riebeeck for it! Or Apartheid! Or the whites!

PS: When I said my goodbyes to July I gave him half of the bread I bought, but tomorrow he will still be hungry!

Also Read This Post of Yesterday - The Lost Youth

The Lost Youth of 1976

Tomorrow (16 June 2017) is Youth Day.

Before I continue, read the post I wrote for Youth Day 2015 – Nothing has changed what I wrote then, except that our country is now even more messed up than in 2015!

So, tomorrow Zuma, the ANC and other Party members will once again praise the lost youth of 1976 for their contribution towards the struggle, the fall of Apartheid, the fall of Bantu Education, the fall of  Afrikaans as medium in schools, etc., etc., etc.!

If the youth of 1976 were such heroes of the struggle, ask yourself the follow questions:

• Why is the education system of 2017 in such a mess?

• Why is it that schools where Afrikaans is still the medium of learning are still leaders in quality education?

• What have the youth of 1976 who should now be in their forties done to enhance quality of governance in South Africa?

• Why are you keeping a political bankrupt President and his party in charge of the country?

• Why are you turning a blind eye to state and public enterprise capture?

• You have spoken out and acted against Apartheid, why don’t you speak out and act against corrupt politicians and public officials of 2017?

• Why did you allow the destruction of everything that was good in South Africa?

• Why is South Africa more than 40 years after you “revolution” junk status?

There are still many questions but these will suffice, the answer to all these questions and many not asked is that you are a lost generation, just like the ANC is a lost political party and thus, South Africa is a lost country and civilization!

Enjoy your public holiday tomorrow, next year we will talk again and we will be just further into the junk!

Danie