<div dir="ltr"><h1>40th Anniversary of Anti-Apartheid Soweto Uprising in South Africa</h1><div class=""><div class="">
<ul class=""><li><div rel="author" id="morganwinsor" class=""><span class="">By</span> MORGAN WINSOR</div></li></ul><span class="">Jun 16, 2016, 4:10 PM ET</span></div></div>
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<img src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/Gty_Soweto_er_160616_12x5_1600.jpg" alt="PHOTO: Ms. Nontsikelelo Makhubu is seen next to the iconic photograph showing Hector Pieterson being carried away during the start of the Soweto Uprising in 1976, during celebrations to commemorate the 40th anniversary." itemprop="image" border="0" height="669" width="1600"><span class="">John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images</span></div><span class="">Ms.
Nontsikelelo Makhubu is seen next to the iconic photograph by Sam Nzima
showing Hector Pieterson being carried away during the start of the
Soweto Uprising in 1976, during celebrations to commemorate the 40th
anniversary, June 16, 2016, in Soweto, South Africa.
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<p itemprop="articleBody">
South Africans today marked the 40th anniversary of the Soweto uprising,
when the streets of the township south-west of Johannesburg were
stained with blood in one of the country’s most notable anti-apartheid
uprisings.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Thousands sang and danced at Orlando Stadium in Soweto today, where South African President <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/world/jacob-zuma.htm" id="ramplink_Jacob Zuma_" target="_blank">Jacob Zuma</a> <a href="http://http://www.gov.za/speeches/president-jacob-zuma-youth-day-2016-16-jun-2016-0000">paid tribute to</a>
the black students killed by security forces during the 1976 protest
against a government directive that they must study in Afrikaans, the
Dutch-based language of the white minority rulers who enforced a system
of racial segregation known as apartheid. Hundreds are estimated to have
been killed in the government clampdown that followed.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
“Students revolted not only against the imposition of Afrikaans but
against Bantu education because they knew it was inferior and that it
was designed to prepare them to be drawers of water and hewers of wood,”
Zuma said while addressing the crowd in Soweto. “Heavily armed police
opened fire on the students as they were marching peacefully and refused
to disperse. Fifteen-year-old Hastings Ndlovu and 12-year-old Hector
Pietersen were the first to be brutally killed by the police.”
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Another student, Umbiswa Makhubo, was photographed by a local journalist
as he carried Pietersen’s limp, bloody body. The striking photo was
printed by newspapers around the world, becoming an iconic image of the
anti-apartheid struggle and prompting global outrage at the killings.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
A memorial and museum was erected in Pietersen’s name years later near
the area where he was shot. South African Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa
led a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial today, which is a national
holiday in the country.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
During his speech in Soweto today, Zuma hailed South Africa’s
achievements since the Soweto uprising. The country broke free of its
apartheid chains in 1994 and is now Africa’s most industrialized
economy.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
“Indeed our freedom was not free. Many paid a heavy price for it. Many
lives were destroyed. Many lives were lost,” he told the audience at the
stadium. “The struggle and sacrifices of the class of 1976 were not in
vain.”
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
But South African youth today are facing a new set of challenges. The
economy grew by just 1.3 percent last year and major sectors have shrunk
due to a weak currency, low consumer demand and rising inflation. South
Africa narrowly avoided a downgrade to its credit rating to junk status
earlier this month, according to <a href="http://http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKCN0YS0XB">Reuters</a>.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Frustrated by a lack of opportunities, students in recent months have
burned university campuses in protest of high tuition fees, which they
feel put a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/education/college-education.htm" id="ramplink_college education_" target="_blank">college education</a> out of reach for black youth. Meanwhile, health officials have said drug abuse is <a href="http://http://www.health24.com/Medical/Addiction/About-addiction/15-of-South-Africans-have-a-drug-problem-20150625">on the rise</a>.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
“The only person who can liberate you is yourself," Lesedi Mashinini, a
niece of a student leader during the Soweto uprising, said while
addressing the stadium today. "No to drugs and burning of schools."
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