Last week, I had a conversation with Mr Gelebe, whom I fondly call uncle. Whenever I find time, I seek his counsel on various matters. This time, I asked him a simple question: “Where were you in 1976?” His answer unfolded into a sermon-like reflection on the youth of yesterday versus the youth of today.
June always recalls 1976 — the year fearless students rose against apartheid, demanding dignity and freedom. While history often highlights Soweto, Limpopo also carried its share of struggle. We mobilised students, slept in the bush to evade police raids, and endured hardship until freedom was won.
Fifty years later, the question lingers: what have we gained, and what have we lost?
The gains are undeniable. Democracy opened doors once closed to black people. Where apartheid confined us to servitude, today black professionals serve as CEOs, CFOs, managers and innovators. Education, once a privilege for the few, now reaches millions. The fruits of progress are visible in boardrooms, universities and government offices.
Yet alongside these gains lies a painful truth. In the rush to embrace freedom, some argue that society discarded key foundations of discipline and moral guidance once reinforced in schools. Morning assemblies once instilled discipline, respect and values. Without them, the result, it is argued, has been a generation struggling with moral direction, reflected in broken families, teenage pregnancies, substance abuse and crime.
“Education without wisdom is dangerous,” Uncle continued. Many of our brightest graduates, entrusted with leadership, have become entangled in corruption. They are undoing the very gains their parents fought for. The vacuum left by weakened values has been filled by greed. Think of Eskom, SAA and Telkom — institutions led by educated young blacks, yet crippled by corruption, nepotism and decay. Watching the Madlanga Commission, one wonders if we are cursed.
He pointed to his neighbour’s son — a qualified medical doctor unemployed for two years. “If a doctor cannot find work, who else will?” he asked. Graduates are reduced to security guards, while corrupt tender-preneurs thrive. In today’s South Africa, success no longer requires wisdom, but political connections and a crooked mind.
Today, it seems tender-preneurs are writing the script of success. With shrewd manoeuvring, political connections and a willingness to bend the rules, they rise to wealth and influence, while honest graduates languish in unemployment lines. Their flashy cars, mansions and extravagant lifestyles send a dangerous message: that cunning and corruption, not education and integrity, are the true keys to prosperity. In such a climate, the pursuit of wisdom and learning risks being overshadowed by the lure of quick riches through crooked deals, leaving young people to question whether education still matters in a society where deceit appears to pay more than degrees.
The lesson, as he framed it, is stark: the removal of moral grounding from schools has left a void in discipline and guidance. Democracy gave freedom, but freedom without discipline, he suggested, has left society vulnerable. As we honour the youth of 1976, we must ask: what future are we building for the youth of 2076? Will they inherit a nation of integrity, or one consumed by corruption and decay?
VKRA Remarks:
“Freedom gave us wings, but wisdom was meant to guide our flight. Without it, we risk soaring high only to fall harder. The youth of 1976 fought for freedom; the youth of today must fight for wisdom.”