The Soweto Uprising was a series of protests that black schoolchildren led in South Africa that started on 16th June 1976. Students from several Sowetan learning institutions started to demonstrate in the Soweto streets in response to Afrikaans’ introduction as the medium of instruction in local learning institutions or schools. According to estimates, more than 19000 students participated in the demonstrations. They faced fierce police brutality, and many got shot and killed. In remembrance of these events, 16th June is now a public holiday in SA, named Youth Day.
What is the Afrikaans?
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of Holland spoken by the Dutch settlers in SA, where it slowly started to develop distinguishing features or characteristics in the 18th century. Therefore, it’s a daughter language of Dutch and the youngest of the Germanic languages, and one of the youngest languages in general. Although the language has adopted words from other languages, including the Khoisan and German languages, an estimated 90-95% of Afrikaans’ vocabulary is of Dutch ancestry.
For a minor group such as the children to hold protests, it means that foreign influence was quite a bad thing for the African continent.
Detailed Description of the Cause of the Protests
As highlighted earlier, black South African secondary school students in Soweto protested against the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974, forcing all African learning institutions to use Afrikaans and English in a 50-50 mix languages of instruction. J.G. Erasmus, the Regional Director of Bantu Education, told circuit inspectors and principals of schools that as from 1st January the following year (1975), Afrikaans had to be employed or used for arithmetic, mathematics, and social studies from std five according to the Afrikaans Medium Decree. The English language was to be the medium of instruction for general science and practical subjects. Practical subjects include needlework, home craft, woodwork, art, metalwork, and agricultural science. People would use indigenous or local languages for music, religious instruction, and physical way of life.
The Afrikaan’s association with apartheid prompted black South Africans to prefer the English language. Even the Bantustan regimes chose a local African language and English as official languages. Besides, the English language was gaining prominence as the language often used in industry and commerce. The late 20th-century decree (the 1974 decree) was to reverse Afrikaans’ decline among black South Africans forcibly. The Afrikaner-dominated authority used the clause of the 1909 Union of South Africa Act that recognized only Dutch and English (the Afrikaans replacing the earlier one in 1925 as official languages as the pretext to do so. While all learning institutions had to provide instructions in the Afrikaans language and English language, white South African students learned other subjects in their native language.
Punt Janson, the Deputy Minister of Bantu Education at the time, was saying this:
“An African man may be trained to work on a factory or a farm. He may work for an employer who is either Afrikaans-speaking or English-speaking, and the man who has to give him instructions may be either Afrikaans-speaking or English-speaking. Why should we now start quarreling or arguing about the medium of instruction among the Africans as well?”
The Black populace resented the decree. Desmond Tutu stated that Afrikaans was the oppressor’s language. Teacher organizations like the African Teachers Association of SA objected to the decree. A change or transition in instruction’s language forced the students to concentrate on comprehending the language instead of the subject material.
The resentment grew until 30th April 1976, when children at Orlando West Junior School in Soweto went on strike and refused to go to their school. Their revolt spread to other learning institutions in Soweto. Black South African students demonstrated as they believed people needed to treat and teach them equally to white South Africans. Teboho Mashinini, a student from Morris Isaacson High School, proposed a meeting on 13th June 1976 to discuss what they should do. The students established an Action Committee, later called the Soweto Students’ Representative Council, which organized a mass rally for 16th June.
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More Details on the Uprising
As stated in the introduction, on the morning of 16th June 1976, between 10000-20000 African students walked from their schools to the Orlando Stadium for a rally to demonstrate against having to learn through Afrikaans in school. Several students who later took part in the protest arrived at school that morning without prior knowledge of the demonstration. The Soweto Students’ Representative Council’s Action Committee was the one responsible for planning the protest. The teachers in Soweto supported the march after the Action Committee emphasized peaceful action and good discipline.
Tsietsi Mashnini led the students from Morris Isaacson High School to join up with others who walked from Naledi High School. The students started the march only to find out that the police force had blocked the road along their intended way. The Action Committee leader asked the crowd not to provoke the police force, and the march continued on another way, ending up at Orlando High School. The crowd of several thousands of students made their way towards the school area. The students sang and waved placards with different slogans. The police force set their trained dog on the demonstrators, who responded by killing it. The police force then started to shoot directly at the children.
Among the 1st students whom the police shot dead were Hastings Ndlovu, 15 years, and Hector Pieterson, 12 years. The police shot them at Orlando West High School. Sam Nzima, the photographer, took a photograph of a dying Hector as Mbuyisa Makhubo carried him away, and Antoinette Sithole, his sister, accompanied them.
The photograph became Soweto Uprising’s symbol. The protesters’ police attacks continued, and more than 20 people died on the 1st day in Soweto. Among them was Dr. Melville Edelstein.
The violence escalated, and police vans and armored vehicles patrolled the streets throughout the night. Injured and bloody children swamped emergency clinics. The police requested that the hospital give a list of all victims with bullet injuries to prosecute them for causing trouble (rioting). The hospital head passed this request to the doctors. However, the doctors refused to make the list.
The Aftermath
The Uprising aftermath established the leading role of the African National Congress (ANC) in the anti-apartheid struggle as it was the body that could channel and organize students seeking apartheid rule end. Although the BCM’s ideals had been vital in forming the climate that gave the students the courage to strike out, ANC’S non-racialism came to control or dominate the discourse of the anti-apartheid movement amongst Africans.
The clashes occurred when the South African government was getting forced to change apartheid in international eyes towards a more benign form. In 1976, the South African government proclaimed Transkei, the 1st Bantustan, as an independent. This attempt to showcase the supposed South African commitment to self-determination backfired.
For the state, the Uprising marked the most basic challenge and yet to apartheid, and the economic and political instability it caused got heightened through the strengthening international boycott. It was a further fourteen years before Nelson Mandela got released, but at no point was the country able to restore the social stability and peace of the 1970s as black resistance increased.
Several white South African citizens were angry at the government’s action in Soweto. The day after the massacre, more than 350 white students from the Witwatersrand University marched through Joburg city center to protest the children’s killing. Black workers went on strike and joined them as the campaign continued. Riots also broke out in the black townships of other cities in SA.
The student organizations directed the youth’s anger and energy toward political resistance. The students in Thembisa organized a non-violent and successful solidarity march, but a similar demonstration in Kagiso resulted in the police force halting a group of participants and forcing them to withdraw or retreat before killing more than three people while waiting for reinforcements. The chaos died down on 18th June.
People set ablaze the University of Zululand’s records and administration structures or buildings, and more than 30 people lost their lives in Port Elizabeth’s incidents in August. In Cape Town, more than 90 people lost their lives between August and September. Most of the bloodshed had decreased or abated by the close of 1976, and by that period, the death toll stood at more than 540.
The continued clashes during the Soweto uprising resulted in economic instability. The South African rand devalued quickly, and the government fell into crisis. The Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum opened in Soweto in 2002.
The Soweto Uprising is a sad event in African history. However, I believe it is unique. It shows bravery and heroism on another level. For children to resist foreign influence, it takes a lot of courage. As of today, several countries such as the United States are still battling police brutality. These countries need to educate the police officers, especially on knowing when to shoot and when not to shoot. The children in the Soweto Uprising are legends whom people need to acknowledge and appreciate deeply.
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