4.3 Responding to texts

English first additional language

Grade 8

Celebrations

Module 18

Responding to texts

Activity 1:

To read a text (fiction) and read for information

[lo 3.1, 3.4.3]

We celebrate many different occasions. Among others, we celebrate events which are linked to our political history. One such day in South Africa is Youth Day. This day commemorates the tragic day when children risked their lives to fight against discrimination and racism.

• In the following article, the youth tell us how they remember that day and also compare their expectations of the future with the reality of living in the new South Africa today.

The Long Walk Down Vilakazi STreet

The setting winter sun bathes the gently curving road, casting the children, the commuters and the face-brick houses in brilliant gold. In that instant, the narrow Soweto street appears welcoming and prosperous. However, this was not always the case in Vilakazi Street, Orlando West.

Twenty-five years ago, on 16 June, 1976, the street became a war zone when police opened fire on about 15 000 pupils demonstrating against Bantu education. In a day of violence, 23 people – including 13-year-old Hector Peterson – were killed and 219 injured. The violence sparked a popular uprising that eventually became known as the “Soweto riots”.

It was a day residents of Vilakazi Street had never expected to witness – and which they can never forget. “I got home from work about 6 pm. The tyres were burning. Cars were burning. The police were roaming around”, said Mxolisi Ngcoza, 47, who is now unemployed.

Ngcoza, who has lived in Vilakazi Street since 1964, said he had been aware from radio broadcasts that there had been “trouble” in the townships and that it was “bad”, but he had not been prepared for the magnitude of the violence.

Vilakazi Street – the only road in the world that boasts two Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in former President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu – was never the same. “The children had our support. They brought Soweto and our problems to the attention of the world. It was the same in 1984, 1985 and 1986. If it were not for them, I often think, what would have happened next? How much longer would we have waited?” says Bobby Makwetla, 59, a former Vilakazi Street resident.

Life in Vilakazi Street changed over the ensuing years. A tarred road replaced the gravel street, and bigger houses replaced council houses damaged in the 1976 clashes. A block of flats built by computer company IBM and fancy fences were added to the mix.

After a negotiated settlement and the election in 1994, the residents of Vilakazi Street had finally gained their freedom.

The standard of living has deteriorated because most people don’t have jobs,” said Shadrack Motau, a former IBM employee. Motau’s sentiments are echoed up and down the street, where many unemployed and desperate residents spend their days at home.

Yet Mafafane and Matau say that the struggle was not in vain. “It was worth every minute, despite the predicament the youth find themselves in.” Mafafane added: “We have freedom of expression and freedom of movement. Things have changed dramatically, even though they are not material things.”