Activity sheet 5
ANC centenary 2012
Young people’s stories
“On Tuesday the police came to our school and they shouted two times and they threw
tear gas in the school yard and the children threw stones at them. They left the school
and they called the hippos (armoured vehicles) and they surrounded our school and
the principal talked to them and they left the school angry.”
Gerald, aged 13
Bongane, aged 11
Moagi (8 years)
“When the police come children get
scared in the townships ... they say
shoot to kill because they say there is a
state of emergency which means they
must not see any child between school
hours.”
“When I am old I would like to have a
wife and two children a boy and a girl
and a big house and two dogs and
freedom. My friends and I would like to
meet together and talk.”
“The situation in our townships is so disgusting that you sometimes ask yourself a
question which has got no answer and that is: “Why did God create a human being?”
We are always running away from the South African Defence Force troops. We are
guarded by troops every day as if we are criminals which are life sentenced. We can no
longer walk as free men on our own land. We are forced to carry heavy papers that
cause suffering, hunger and sorrow to our people.
Instead of uniting and making one big and strong nation, we are busy separating and
forming many different nations because of apartheid. When you move in each and
every township, you are forced to tip-toe afraid of being seen by the Casspirs
(armoured vehicles). We have sleepless nights being afraid of being taken away from
our families to slavery.
If you are a boy whenever you hear a knock on the door, you start panicking without
knowing why. All that comes into your mind at once is a man wearing a greenish
helmet, green camouflage clothes, a pair of dark brown boots, a pistol in a holster on
his waist and a rifle in his hands with a red face hunting you like a beast ...”
Bathandwa aged 15
“When South Africa obtains freedom, we want no racial separation. We want equal
rights for everyone in the new Azania (South Africa), people must be all educated and
filled with knowledge so that they can communicate with other countries.
We must all work hard and keep Azania shining ... and we must help one another as
one nation. And Blacks must be part and parcel of the MPC (Members of Parliament).
We must be like other countries like USA where there is no apartheid.
When we fight other countries, there must also be white soldiers so that if we die we
must not die alone. And Blacks must have their farms so that they can sell their crops
to the factory to obtain money in turn ... but the first thing that we can get as our
weapon that no one can take from you is “EDUCATION”.
Mokgethi (13 years)
All quotes from ‘Two Dogs and Freedom – Children of the Townships Speak Out’ Ravan Press/The Open School
Cartoons from ‘Fighting Apartheid – A Cartoon History’ International Defense and Aid Fund for South Africa and UNESCO