Forty years ago today, thousands of students in Soweto, Kwa-Langa, Mamelodi, Gugulethu and many other parts of the country assembled to demonstrate their opposition to the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in African schools. 

Their anger had been brewing since February 1976, with the apartheid regime's enforcement of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. June 16 marked the beginning of a countrywide youth uprising against the apartheid regime. In the process, and in subsequent years, many young lives were lost, and many more destroyed, by the apartheid government. 


Sakina Kamwendo speaks to retired Science teacher Morris Isaacson High school Fanyana Mazibuko who tells the story of the fallen heroes and heroines of the student uprisings. 

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