South Africans march to remember Soweto uprising
Sowetans marched again today, retracing the steps of a student demonstration that galvanised the anti-apartheid struggle 30 years ago.
About 1,000 marchers led by president Thabo Mbeki marched through the streets of Soweto township built for blacks during the apartheid era, pausing at about 9am local time for a moment of silence to remember Hector Pieterson, a 17-year-old whose death during the march 30 years ago has come to symbolise the sacrifices of young people in the fight for democracy.
Martin Mhlanga, 51, injured in a car accident a year ago, watched today’s march from a wheelchair, his pigtailed, three-year-old niece leaning on his knees.
He said he took her because he wanted her to know about an important moment in her country’s history.
“On June 16 that day in 1976, I was on this same road,” he said. “There was tear gas. People screaming, running, and police chasing everybody.”
What came to be known as the Soweto Uprising started as a student protest against being taught in the Afrikaans language.
