Abahlali to commemorate Youth Day in Durban & Newcastle

Sunday, 16 June 2019
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Abahlali to commemorate Youth Day in Durban & Newcastle

June 16, is a very significant day in our calendar where we remember those young people who took a stand against the ruthless apartheid regime in 1976. Many people lost their lives in the youth driven insurrection that spread across the country in 1976.

However, today, 25 years after the end of apartheid, most young people still face many of the same challenges that they faced under apartheid. And young people continue to lose their lives in the struggle for dignity, justice and a future. The state and the ruling party both continue to murder impoverished black activists. 

Our young comrades, some still of school going age, continue to lose their lives in the struggle for land, housing and dignity for the impoverished and oppressed in this country.

In 2013 Nqobile Nzuza was murdered by a police officer at a road blockade organised in protest against unlawful evictions in our Marikana occupation in Cato Crest. Nqobile had joined hundreds of young people who decided to take to the streets to protest against these illegal evictions by the notorious Anti Land Invasion. Her crime was that she was born in a poor family.

In June 2017 Samuel Hloele was murdered by the Anti Land Invasion Unit in Marianridge. His community was facing continuous brutal attacks from thus unit. He decided to take a stand and put his life on the line for his community.

S’bonelo Mpeku a provincial spokesperson for KZN was kidnapped and assassinated after receiving threats from the local ANC in Sisonke Village in Lamontville. Mpeku was very vocal against the vicious evictions in his community.

Senzo Gumede from eKhenana was also shot and killed last year in December after receiving threats from a local taxi owner for his role in organising protests against the evictions in eKhenana.

Nkululeko Gwala, Sandile Biyela, Soyiso Nkqayini also lost their lives in the struggle for land, housing and dignity.

Young people continue to suffer at the hands of the state in post-apartheid South Africa. Students in the Fees Must Fall Movement are still facing criminal charges for fighting for a free and decolonised education. Their crime is that they come from families who cannot afford to pay for their education.

We still face many of the same struggles that the youth of 1976 faced. The difference is that we are oppressed by those who claim to have liberated us and continue to tell us that we are free. We are still faced with a state that responds with violence to people who are protesting peacefully and which can murder us with impunity.

As we commemorate this day we make a serious request that the lives of the young comrades that were lost in the struggle for human dignity before, during and after apartheid are all recognised. When we pretend that it was only the apartheid state that used murder as a form of political control we are not telling the truth about post-apartheid South Africa, and we disrespect the courage and memory of many brave comrades who have lost their lives in struggle under the rule of the ANC.

Today we are holding two commemorations for young comrades who have fallen in struggle before, during and after apartheid. We are holding one event in the Surat Hindu Hall in Durban and another in Osizweni in Newcastle. They will both start at 10:00

Contact persons:

Khanyo Shange: 073 8444 6626
Zanoyise Kati: 061 045 8366