Tragedy as African Children Lead a Rebellion
- Category: Children
- Date 19-06-2005
- 931 views
The day of the African child, which falls on 16th June every year, is a celebration of brutality. Twenty-nine years ago, at the height of the apartheid craze in South Africa, brutality against the African child came to an absurd crescendo in a Soweto uprising where hundreds of children perished in a bloodbath.
The Boer language (Afrikaans) had been imposed by the apartheid regime as a compulsory language in black schools in a characteristic white dominance of the education system in South Africa. As a consequence, Soweto burst into flames when schoolchildren boycotted classes in April 1976, with about three thousand of them taking to the streets to protest the latest injustice. The children led an uprising, which culminated into their nasty confrontation with the apartheid police on 16th June 1976, and what followed was the unforgettable bloodbath.
That day saw the police force descend on the streets, armed to the teeth, for a showdown with the unarmed demonstrators. The police also comprised paramilitary squads specially designed and trained for counter-guerrilla warfare, and used guns, helicopters, and other antiriot weapons ostensibly to quell a demonstration of children, some of them as young as ten years. They indiscriminately opened fire, killing and wounding many of the protesting pupils, who had then attracted some adults as they proceeded.
The brutality, which the police had applied on the children who had protested in pursuit of their rights, generated a lot of anger in communities and violence ensued on June 17th. As demonstrators went on rampage, erecting barricades and destroying property symbolising white authority, the death toll rose to 170 in a matter of days. This sparked off worldwide condemnation, especially at the use of excessive violence and arms to control unarmed children. The Soweto rebellion did not only lead the apartheid regime to lift the imposition of Afrikaans, but also it brought the spotlight on apartheid governance and caused a wave of resistance to grow and spread like forest fire.
Since then, apartheid has collapsed and the then Organisation of African Unity (contemporary African Union), at its 1990 summit woke up to the plight of children and, while adopting the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, declared 16th June the Day of the African Child. It also ushered in a new era of solidarity and mode of operation, which recognised that meaningful development can only begin with the human being, especially a child. The children’s uprising, whereas it resulted in serious casualties and loss of lives, delivered an upbeat message that human destiny must be shaped by unwavering commitment to pursue what is morally right and rewarding without limit.
The day of the African child is a commemoration of brutality on one hand as an inevitable consequence of all unfair systems underlying the mismanagement of social, economic, political, and other human affairs, as well as of the spirit of courage to stand up to injustice and change things for the better on the other. It is also a rallying call for leaders and citizens of Africa to reflect on the conditions under which children are growing up, if only to enable them initiate or propel the development of this continent which has been roundly condemned to all forms of malaise. This is not merely at the level of national policy issues but in the day-to-day occurrences in homes, schools, streets, workplaces, and all areas of life.
To date, children still need to riot against the avalanche of vagaries that continue to confront them and undermine their much needed and well-deserved care. There is indeed ever-increasing incidences of brutality in many communities, even where children should turn for protection and love. In schools as in homes, young people still contend with raging corporal punishments; inhuman and humiliating as they are. Street children, child labourers, orphans and those in refuge camps continue to stay under dehumanising conditions that undermine their potential to grow into productive and respectable citizens.
The more brutality to children comes in form of health maladies, as many of them lose their lives to preventable and curable diseases such as malaria, which is rampant in Africa. Malnutrition is equally hard-hitting to children as many families depend on insufficient food supplies either because of large families, poor harvests, infertile soils or natural hazards, and famine becomes the inescapable reality. Miserable family and national economic resources also have led to a situation where children grow up amid biting poverty, lack of educational opportunities or declining school standards. This is all the brutality that the day of the African child aims to remind us of.
By Venansio Ahabwe
Source: Peering Eye, Sunday Citizen