Hector Pieterson's sister calls on today's youth to find a cause
What has changed in education since 1976?
Hector Pieterson's sister Antoinette Sithole arrives at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, 16 June 2025, to give a lecture on her brotherwho was shot dead by the apartheid police on 16 June 1976. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/ The Citizen
Antoinette Sithole, sister of June 1976 uprising shooting victim, schoolboy Hector Pieterson, says her generation is sad to see the behaviour of today's youth.
They take weapons to school, attack their teachers and fellow pupils, and abuse drugs on the school premises, she noted.
'To me, the meaning of Youth Day is how to tackle your own problems. As youth, you should be out there writing placards to say 'we are tired of gender-based violence'. As parents, we will support you.
'Make a bold statement. You will be supported by billions out there in the world,' she said.
Sithole said she had long ago decided to forgive the killers of her brother, Hector.
'I am on the side of those who say it's best that I don't know the person who killed my brother, because I want everything in my life to be positive,' Sithole said.
Sithole was addressing an audience that included youths from different cultural backgrounds and political activists to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the police killings of pupils protesting against Afrikaans being used as a medium of instruction in black schools.
She will be 66 on 28 June.
What are today's youth fighting for?
Another panel speaker at the event, Dr Tshepo Moloi, head of the department of history at the University of Johannesburg, related the plan to organise the 1976 uprising under the auspices of the South African Students Movement linked to the Black Consciousness Movement.
Moloi made a comparison between the youth of 1976 and today's youth, saying the former were activists while questions linger about the influence today's youth have on change.
However, a guest, Esinako Ndabeni, noted that the #FeesMustFall student activists played a significant role in bringing about change in the education system.
Remembering Hector
Sithole remembers her younger brother, Hector, as a shy but naughty little boy who once got her into trouble with train security guards.
Sithole went on the train with her brother frequently, but he would ask her not to buy their weekly train tickets to school and instead to keep the money.
They managed to get free rides a few times, but on the third day, she was caught by the security guards while trying to escape.
Hector had already escaped and was waiting for his sister, laughing and dancing. The guards accused her of teaching her brother not to pay for tickets.
Although she managed to convince the security guards to let her go, she gave her little brother a tongue lashing and vowed never to try to wangle a free train ride again.
Hector, who was close to their mother, loved kung fu movies, and his hero was Bruce Lee, whose films he would watch repeatedly every weekend.
'Hector was very humble and not talkative. I know that comrades see Hector as a struggle hero, but I don't share that view.
'To me he was just my brother. He shouldn't have been there in the first place.
'He was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was shot by the police,' Sithole said.
Still taught in Afrikaans
She said the 1976 generation opposed Afrikaans because it was the language of the oppressor.
'We hated Afrikaans because the owner of that language was our oppressor. We felt we were oppressed by the Afrikaners. Now we have to be instructed in their language. No way,' she said.
On the 49th anniversary of the 1976 uprising in which scores of pupils were killed by police and hundreds injured, Sithole said it was shocking that pupils today still have to pass Afrikaans to proceed to the next grade.
She believed the language should have been taken out of the syllabus by the democratic government and replaced with a language from other African countries.
'We thought our education would be the best after all that happened.
'But I am not a politician, it's not for me to tell them what to do,' she said.
Sithole, who was 16 and doing form 3 (now grade 10) at Phefeni Senior Secondary in Orlando when the 1976 student uprisings occurred, related how she found her 13-year-old brother on the other side of the pavement while police were shooting.
He came to her side, but when the police fired more shots, the boy disappeared in the crowd and they were separated.
Later she saw student Mbuyisa Makhubo, then 18, carrying her limp brother's body running past her.
She followed him and asked who he was and where he was taking her brother, but Makhubo kept running and put Hector in a journalist's car.
They took him to the clinic, but he was already dead.
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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ In Namibia, the #FeesMustFall movement was a reflection of the South African-led one, with a specific call for a complete shift to free, government-funded tertiary education. 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They have solidly implemented the subsidisation of fees, and they continue to rework their inclusivity policies, particularly where marginalised groups and foundational education are concerned. 'It is what we make of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from the other'. This profound statement by South Africa's first democratic President, Nelson Mandela, is an exact echo of the performance of Nandi-Ndaitwah. While the youth across the continent hunger for knowledge and innovation, too many of our governments continue to treat education as a secondary concern, throwing words around instead of resources, when we're in a crisis that demands action. We cannot build an independent, thriving Africa on broken chalkboards, underpaid teachers, and overcrowded classrooms. Educating the youth and every member within our society will be critical to the empowerment of our people. As a society, it is pertinent that we demand more than just slogans from those in leadership. 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We must remember that no liberation movement in our history began with perfect conditions. Freedoms are built upon the audacity to act. Nandi-Ndaitwah has planted a golden seed. Let the rest of the continent take note. Africa's renaissance will not be imported; it will be built by educated, empowered, audacious Africans. Free education is not just about entrance to classrooms; it is about human rights and justice at its core. It is about healing our society from a pervasive imperialist system that still has its roots tightly wound around SA's institutional neck. Education is about reclaiming our collective right to dream of an empowered self and to shape the Africa we want to see. 'No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated,' Mandela once profoundly said. 'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.' * Tswelopele Makoe is a gender and social justice activist and editor at Global South Media Network. She is a researcher, columnist, and an Andrew W Mellon scholar at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, UWC. The views expressed are her own. ** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, IOL, or Independent Media. Get the real story on the go: Follow the Sunday Independent on WhatsApp.
