Over this weekend the people of our country and the whole world are celebrating one of the most beautiful and glorious chapters of the history of the south african national liberation struggles. We are commemorating the 36th anniversary celebrations of the 1976 June 16 student uprising. It was during this historic day that our heroic june 1976 youth generation triumphed over the forces of apartheid regime when they led the most successful protest march against the imposition of bantu education and also afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
We take this humbled opportunity to salute the heroism of the historic leadership of the june 16 generation for the pivotal role they played in the struggles against the forces of apartheid colonialism and imperialism and more importantly their fearless determination to occupy the forefront trenches as volunteers of our national liberation struggles.Their indominable contribution to the cause of our struggles for the total emancipation, freedoms and the dignity of our people will forever cherish the memories of our future generations to come.
We celebrate the historic calendar day eighteen years after the demise of the apartheid regime saw the election of our first democratic government under the stewardship of our national liberation movement, the african national congress. The 1994 democratic breakthrough ushered in a qualitative shift from apartheid colonial oppression and exploitation to a new era of democratic dispensation for effective socio economic transformation of all relations of our society.
The pertinent question we need to ask ourselves is whether we are able to seize the prospects presented by the qualitative 1994 democratic breakthrough to nurture the calibre leadership of our young generation capable of taking forward the glorious legacy of the June 16 generation.
Whether we are able to utilize the possibilities created by the new improved conditions as a breeding ground to build a calibre of a young generation capable of traversing and confronting the challenges posed by the centuries old legacy of imperialism and colonialism of a special type.
The scientific theoretical approach on this complex question will be to move from the basis of understanding the historic character of both the June 16 generation and our generation of youth today and more importantly understanding the prevailing concrete objective realities of the day.