The Youth of a Nation

Apartheid had devastating effects on all elements of South African life. Many people lost their rights, freedoms, livelihoods and even lives as they struggled to overthrow this divisive and racist form of governance.

One of the most telling such instances took place in Soweto on this date in 1976. Scores of youths, school-aged children, were killed as they protested apartheid and their requirement to learn Afrikaans. To remember their commitment to “the struggle” South Africa considers June 16 Youth Day.

It’s a holiday that caught many foreigners completely by surprise. But as President Jacob Zuma said in a nationally televised speech today, the World Cup allows the country to share this unique day in its history with the world.

Every country knows that its prosperity is tied up in the fortunes of its youth. For South Africa a country less than a generation into democratic rule the youth take on a broader significance to the health of the republic. People and politicians agree about this, more so the people than the politicos.

During breakfast Wednesday morning in Port Elizabeth Linda and Joe, a couple on holiday from Johannesburg, spoke about the importance of youth and how much South Africa has changed in just 16 years.

South Africa still has its issues, but the vacationing couple was insistent that so much has changed since democracy usurped divisiveness here. Maybe South Africans are playing nice for the tourists, but there is not as much readily apparent division here as there is in the United States. Linda and Joe buttressed that observation with their comments over omelets and toast.

Sports have brought this country together even more.

Sports always have a way of bringing people together, but this World Cup will likely have more of a lasting impact here, even if the Bafana Bafana don’t qualify for the knockout stages, than victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup (think of the movie Invictus) or winning the 1996 African Cup of Nations on home soil.

So what does soccer, and its long history of inclusiveness, have to do with Youth Day?

Wednesday night in Durban a little boy, no older than four, was dancing and playing his vuvuzela. No one bothered to mention or care that he looked any different from them — with the exception his Bafana Bafana shirt was smaller.