16/06/2025
SOUTH AFRICAN STUDENTS CONGRESS (SASCO)
Central Eastern Cape Region
Youth Day Message – 16 June 2025
Penned by the Regional Chairperson on behalf of the Regional executive
To: All Branches and Members of SASCO in the Central Eastern Cape Region
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Revolutionary Greetings, Comrades,
On this day, we commemorate one of the most defining moments in the history of our country—June 16, 1976—a day etched in blood and bravery. It was the youth, armed with books and courage, who stood toe-to-toe with an oppressive regime and declared: Enough is enough!
As the South African Students Congress (SASCO) Central Eastern Cape Region, we take this opportunity to reflect deeply on the lives and sacrifices of those who paved the way for the freedoms we now enjoy—and the unfinished tasks we still face.
We honour the memory and legacy of Tsietsi Mashinini, the fearless leader of the Soweto Uprising. We salute Onkgopotse Tiro, whose fiery speech in 1972 shook the walls of institutional injustice and laid the intellectual foundation for the youth rebellion that followed. We remember Ashley Kriel, the unwavering symbol of youth resistance in the Western Cape, and Xola Nene, Wanga Sigila, and Siphiwo Zuma, Eastern Cape revolutionaries whose sacrifices remind us that the path to freedom has always been soaked in youthful blood.
These are not just names to be remembered—they are political beacons. Their lives speak to the enduring mission of our generation: to deepen democracy, defend student rights, and confront new forms of exclusion in our institutions and society.
Branches and comrades, we must be vigilant in the face of rising inequalities, structural unemployment, gender-based violence, and the slow pace of transformation in higher education. We must agitate for free, decolonised, and quality education, and for institutions that reflect the soul and dignity of the African child.
Let us draw strength from our fallen heroes and renew our political commitment to being agents of change—not in theory, but in active, organised, and revolutionary struggle.
The youth of 1976 fought against Bantu Education. The youth of 2025 must fight against exclusionary academic policies, economic marginalisation, and ideological bankruptcy. We dare not fail.
May the blood of Tsietsi, Onkgopotse, Ashley, Xola, Wanga, and Siphiwo continue to water the tree of liberation.
I pen this letter to you branches and members of our beloved movement in consultation with the Regional Secretary Cde Alizwa Limekhaya and the vibrant REC of central region, as a clarion call to go an fight , campus by campus, res by res , society by society , class to class. Do not get weary or tired.
Aluta Continua! Victory is Certain!
Issued by:
Cde RHEMA ONDELA TYWAKADI
Regional Chairperson
SASCO Central Eastern Cape Region
16 June 2025
