The Sunday Mail
Lovemore Ranga Mataire
Many will concur that the image of a fear-stricken 18-year-old Mbuyisa Makhubu carrying Hector Pieterson’s body in his arms signalled the beginning of the end of apartheid in South Africa as the regime’s sheer brutality was brought to world attention during the Soweto Uprising of June 16, 1976. Irked by a national decree that enforced the use of Afrikaans as a language of instruction in schools, more than 10 000 South African students took to the streets to convey their rejection of such a policy.
Their intention to march peacefully to Orlando Stadium was blocked by the apartheid police who brutally quelled the protest using live ammunition, resulting in the death of 69 students and the injury of a thousand others.
It is, however, the image of Makhubu carrying Hector Pieterson that 40 years after the massacre has remained etched in the minds of South Africans and Africans alike as a symbol of the youth’s resolve to free themselves from political, social and economic bondage.
Consequently, it is the Soweto Uprising that led the Heads of State and Government of the then Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union, to adopt Resolution No.1240 in 1990 that declared June 16 of each year the “Day of the African Child”.
June 16 focuses on awareness of problems affecting young Africans and their resolution.
In a broader sense, the day has grown to be regarded as one that reflects on the myriad of issues affecting the youths who constitute the larger demographic segment of post-colonial Africa.
Sadly, for most people on the continent wrestling with the hassle of immediate and constant survival errands, the day passed like any other normal day.
Yet, the day’s critical importance in shaping the trajectory of dismantling the last vestiges of white racist oppression can never be underestimated.
The seriousness in observing the “Day of the African Child” is exemplified by only a few countries like South Africa and Namibia that have made it a public holiday.
Yet, out of all the public commemorations on the continent, nothing must beat commemoration of a segment of its population largely referred to as its future.
Indeed, how can a continent that fails to progressively and positively nurture its youth be ever certain of the continent’s future sustainability?
Is this not the time for the continent to examine progress in implementing the regional African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child?
It is shocking that most Zimbabwean youths are not even aware of the historical significance of the youth day, let alone the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which came into force in November 1999 as the first regional treaty on the rights of the child. It also complements the African Charter on Human and People’s rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This year’s theme of ending child marriages dovetails with the Zimbabwe Government’s resolve to deal with child sexual offenders.
Debate on child marriages was ignited by suggestions that children as young as 12 years old could get married if they consented.
While child marriages informed the theme for this year’s June 16 commemorations, it also brings to the fore the myriad of problems that still confront the African child.
Other pertinent issues that African governments must pay serious attention to include poverty whose effect is more pronounced on women and children.
According to a 2015 African Union report, 28 percent of children born on the continent are likely stunted or underweight.
It is sad that many parents on the continent still have to deal with the reality that their children may not even stay alive during the first vital years of life and yet most of the ailments that increase infant mortality are preventable.
The second major issue faced by African youths is access to proper education.
Although Zimbabwe has made huge strides in the provision of quality education, education still remains a mirage to most socially disadvantaged people in rural communities, cities and the physically challenged, including children orphaned by HIV/Aids.
The situation is even worse for the girl child whose access to education is still constricted by religious and cultural beliefs.
The third pertinent issue needing urgent redress is child labour.
Child labour is still a problem on the continent as children are forced to work under extreme conditions to supplement their parents’ meagre earnings.
Coupled with this is the issue of unemployment to those who would have graduated from colleges and universities.
However, despite these challenges, the situation is not all gloomy as some African countries like Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, South Africa and Tanzania are implementing policies aimed at improving the welfare of children.
In Zimbabwe, the Government has implemented several policies aimed at ensuring that children have access to quality education through various interventions encapsulated in the new curriculum currently being rolled in all the schools.
Kenya has also introduced a system of free primary education for every child, a development that has helped to bring back over one million children into school.
Similarly, Mozambique has managed to reduce poverty rates by about 25 percent and this has in turn resulted in the increase of the number of children attending school.
Uganda has managed to reduce the HIV infection rates from 20 percent to 6 percent in a period of 10 years.
The reduction of the HIV rate has also led to reduced cases of orphans and has had a ripple effect in the number of children going to school.
Tanzania has also managed to build over 10 000 schools over the years and created employment for teachers in line with the country’s pursuit of achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
In November 2014, South Africa was praised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) as one of the countries that have made progress in the area of Education for Sustainable Development.
One of the most significant achievements made by South Africa was the reaffirmation and attention given to the role of indigenous knowledge and practices regarding sustainable living, sustainable development and caring for the well-being of future ecosystems.
Unesco also commended South Africa for its commitment in strengthening the progress already made in basic education by integrating the five priority action areas of the Global Action Programme into the strategic framework of the Department of Basic Education.
As a pan-Africanist, I remain optimistic about the continent’s ability to assuage the torturous road the youth have travelled and continue to endure as political freedom has taken long to deliver economic prosperity.
My optimism is somewhat tested by the seemingly senseless and endless conflicts that continue to dog the continent with child soldiers being the cannon fodder bearing the worst of such internal disturbances.
Invariably, a prognosis of the continent’s prospects leads one to further examine its broader economic outlook which has a direct impact on youth who form the bulk of the populace.
Thus a 2016 research by Foresight Africa, ‘Top Priorities for the Continent — The Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institute’, paints a sad reading of Africa.
According to the report, Africa’s industrial development has been stalled since the 1970s.
Only one is five workers on the continent has a job in the wage economy.
Historically, the only way to generate such jobs on a significant scale in developing nations is by having export-oriented manufacturing companies.
Although the poverty rate has somewhat declined in recent years, rapid population growth means that the number of people suffering keeps growing from 280 million in 1990 to an estimated 330 million in 2012.
Out of 20 countries in the world with the worst nutrition security, 19 are said to be in Africa.
Africa’s future prospects have also been shaken by the changes in the global economic architecture.
A good example is the fact that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) neither of which includes sub-Sahara African countries will offset many of the trade benefits African counties currently enjoy under America’s Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.
But even with such a debilitating state of affairs, I still believe like Thabo Mbeki that Africa will rise again. The primary responsibility of addressing these challenges rests with Africans.
African business people will have to create industries that will generate the jobs African workers need.
The education offered to youths need to be economically productive and politically effective. Similarly, African parents will have to give their children, the love, security and discipline they need to grow into responsible and courageous adults.
Ultimately, African political leaders will have to make the changes that will reduce corruption and generate the laws, policies and practices needed to enable and encourage these foregoing non-political efforts.
Just like the youths pushed the apartheid regime to the brink of consenting to a number of changes and eventually to the negotiating table, today’s youth still have a responsible to create the necessary popular pressure to push their own African governments towards the necessary transformational changes and create spaces for youth to thrive and remain on the political and economic fringes of their individual countries.
It is fundamentally critical
The words of the first black President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, aptly capture the mandate of the youths in post-colonial Africa: “I admire young people who are concerned with the affairs of their community and nation, perhaps because I also became involved in the struggle whilst I was still at school.
“With such youth we can be sure that the ideals we celebrate today will never be extinguished. Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.” It is anomalous that the “Day of the African Child” is a public holiday in only a few African countries.
African governments need to move from merely paying lip-service to issues concerning the youth and start treasuring the “Day of the African Child”.
It should be a permanent reminder that the future should not die in the present.
