City’s Acting Mayor, Speaker to lead June 16 commemorations
14 June 2017
The City of Joburg will over the next few days hold several events in various parts of the Metropolis in commemoration of the 41st anniversary of the June 16, 1976, Soweto uprisings.
The activities will be in honour of hundreds of schoolchildren who were killed or maimed by apartheid police after taking to the streets 41 years ago in protest against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in black schools.
Acting Executive Mayor Councillor Funzela Ngobeni will lead a wreath-laying ceremony at the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum in Orlando West, Soweto, on Youth Day, Friday, 16 June.
MMC Ngobeni will be joined by Gauteng Premier David Makhura, families of the victims and leaders of both the National Youth Development Agency and the June 16, 1976, Foundation.
Pieterson was one of the first victims of the revolt that brought to international glare the injustices of Bantu Education in particular and apartheid in general.
The wreath-laying ceremony, which will take place at 8 am will be followed by a youth walk, fun run and a cycling race from Orlando Stadium to the Nasrec Exhibition Centre. This is the venue where the Gauteng Provincial Government and the 11 municipalities within its jurisdiction – including the City of Joburg – have since Friday, 9 June been holding a jobs, careers and entrepreneurship exhibition targeting unemployed youth and primary and high school learners. The expo runs until Sunday, 18 June.
On Saturday, Council Speaker Councillor Vasco da Gama will lay a wreath at the grave of Japie Vilankulu in Alexandra in Region E.
Vilankulu was the first student activist killed by police in Alexandra during the 76 uprisings.
Other youth activities organised by the City include the Steven Pienaar soccer tournament, named after Bafana Bafana and Everton FC star Steven Pienaar, in Westbury in Region B. The tournament, which was put together by the City’s Department of Community Development will reach its climax on Sunday, 18 June.
Also in Westbury, Joburg Water will run a sanitation awareness campaign at the Westbury High School on Friday, 16 June. On Thursday, 15 June the department will stage a climate-change awareness campaign at Riverlea, also in Region B.
The City’s Health and Social Development Department will on Youth Day lead a drugs and teen pregnancy awareness walk at Cosmo City in Region C.
The City’s Public Safety Department – including the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) and Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) – will on Thursday, 22 June conduct a public safety awareness campaign in various regions.
The Johannesburg City Theatres has been screening the movie Kalushi at all its three theatres – Joburg, Roodepoort and Soweto – throughout Youth Month. The movie is about student leader-turned-freedom fighter Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu who was hanged by the apartheid government in 1979 for his participation in Umkhonto we Sizwe activities to liberate South Africa.
The Johannesburg Film Office has, in partnership with the Gauteng Film Commission and National Film and Video Foundation, been holding a series of workshops since Friday, 9 June to expose young and aspiring filmmakers to various careers in the industry. The workshops will run until Friday, 30 June.