Edition June 2026

We cannot launch the Golden Jubilee Commemoration of the 1976 Youth Uprising without first reflecting on the significance of the moment that brings us here.

The morning of 16 June 1976 did not begin on 16 June. It had been building for decades. In 1953, the apartheid government introduced the Bantu Education Act, laying the foundation for an education system designed to separate, control and limit Black children.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, a spirit was rising among Black students and young people. The Black Consciousness Movement was teaching a generation to reject inferiority, to recover dignity, and to understand that apartheid did not only control land, labour and laws –it also tried to control the mind.

In 1969, the South African Students’ Organisation was launched at Turfloop, the then University of the North. Turfloop became one of the important centres of Black student politics, connecting the struggles of township schools, rural campuses and national resistance.

In 1974, the apartheid state issued instructions that Afrikaans and English must be used on a 50/50 basis as languages of instruction in Black secondary schools. Subjects such as mathematics, arithmetic and social studies were to be taught in Afrikaans.

This was not a neutral language policy. It was the apartheid state saying to Black children: even your learning will happen on our terms.

The gathering storm 

By May 1976, the matter had moved from memoranda and warnings into student action. On 17 May 1976, students at Orlando West Junior Secondary School would go on strike. Two days later, a committee of students would present a memorandum to their principal. Students from other schools would join the strike. By 24 May, students from Pimville Higher Primary and Khulangolwazi Higher Primary would also join.

By 13 June 1976, student leaders had formed an action committee, later known as the Soweto Students’ Representative Council. Their plan was not to start a violent uprising. Their plan was to hold a peaceful protest against the compulsory use of Afrikaans as a language of instruction.

On the morning of 16 June 1976, learners moved in organised columns, collecting other students along the way, with the intention of proceeding to Orlando Stadium for a peaceful rally. But apartheid responded to children with violence. 

June 1976 was not only a tragic period in our history. It was a moment of political clarity. It showed South Africa and the world that young people are not spectators in history. They are makers of history and leaders of the future.

In May 2026, we launched a year of national action under the theme; RESET@50 – The Future Calls.

This is not just a campaign. It is a call-to-action to:

Remember truthfully: not through selective memory, but the full truth of pain, courage, betrayal, resilience and sacrifice.

Engage the present: by recognising the impact of the 1976 Youth Uprising on the trajectory of our country, and what it demands of us today.

Shift the narrative: from seeing young people as a problem, to recognising young people as solutions and co-creators of today and the future.

Empower this generation: by transferring leadership, not only stories, and building intergenerational continuity.

Transform the future: by ensuring that our programmes advance economic inclusion for all young people, especially young women and young persons with disabilities.

Promises of democracy

In 1994, young people entered a democracy that promised political freedom, equal citizenship and a new social contract.

In 1996, that promise was given constitutional force. Our Constitution, which this year turns 30, affirmed the rights to dignity, equality and freedom.

Since then, government has expanded access to education, student funding, youth development institutions, public participation platforms, skills development and employment pathways.

Through generations of student activism and progressive deliberate policy choices of the democratic state, enrolment in the public university sector grew from 495 356 students in 1994 to more than more than 1 million in 2022. By 2025, public universities were projected to enrol over 1.15 million students, while TVET colleges were projected to enrol over 587 000 students.

The struggles of student movements over many years, culminating in the Fees Must Fall protests of 2015, 2016 and 2017, pushed the country to confront the unfinished question of free decolonised higher education. Through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), millions of young people from poor and working-class households have accessed university and TVET opportunities. Between 2019 and 2023, the Department of Higher Education and Training reported that the NSFAS disbursed R192 billion, benefiting almost 3.9 million students in universities and TVET colleges.

Youth empowerment

We have also built a legislative and institutional framework for youth development. Through the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) Act of 2008, and its subsequent 2024 amendment, government has institutionalised youth development and created a dedicated agency to coordinate and support young people across the country. 

And in this financial year, government is placing R1.8 billion behind the NYDA to expand youth development, entrepreneurship, employment pathways, skills development and paid service opportunities. This includes support for youth-owned enterprises, business development support, job placement, and work towards a National Youth Fund Strategy.

The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention has created a national platform for connecting young people to opportunities. By 2025, the National Pathway Management Network had over 4.78 million young people registered, with more than 1.67 million earning opportunities secured to date. 

The Presidential Youth Employment Initiative created opportunities for more than 

320 000 young people in approximately 23 000 public schools in its first phase alone. 

These gains show that democracy has created institutions, opened doors, and placed resources behind youth development. 

But the next phase cannot be measured only by access. It must be measured by completion, transition, absorption, ownership and dignity. 

So why is the RESET necessary and what must change? 

Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey, youth unemployment increased to 32.7%. The survey also also revealed that more than four in 10 young people aged 15 to 34 were not in employment, education or training, with the NEET rate for this age group reaching 45.6% in the first quarter of 2026. 

These figures require us to focus on the pressure points in the youth development pipeline. 

It is not enough for young people to enter education if they do not complete, and if completion does not lead to work, enterprise or further training.

It is not enough to train young people if those skills are not linked to growing sectors, real employers and productive opportunities.

It is not enough to support young people with ideas, businesses and digital access if they remain outside finance, procurement, markets, value chains and the digital economy.

That is why this reset is also a call to higher education institutions, SETAs, industry and the private sector to work together more deliberately.

Universities and TVET colleges must work with industry in the co-creation of curricula, workplace exposure and skills planning, so that young people are not trained for an economy that cannot absorb them.

That is the practical meaning of RESET@50: a youth development pipeline that moves young people from access to completion, from qualifications to pathways, and from training to absorption, ownership and dignity.❖

*This message is part of a speech delivered by the Minister at the Media Launch of the Golden Jubilee Commemoration of the 1976 Youth Uprising.