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Youth will benefit from Boipatong Monument 17 June 2016

Tswana dancers
Tswana and Zulu dancers at the monument.

Boipatong Monument
Children looking at the exhibition inside the monument.

Boipatong Candle Lighting
Cllr. Busisiwe Modisakeng lighting a candle with one the survivors.

Boipatong Wreath Laying
Sedibeng Executive Mayor Cllr. Busisiwe Modisakeng with 2 members of the Jewish Board of Deputies and SARC MEC Faith Mazibuko.
  Youth from Boipatong and surrounding areas will be the first beneficiaries of the newly built R34million state of the art Memorial and Youth Center which was opened on Friday, 17 June during the 24th anniversary commemoration of Boipatong massacre.

2016 marks the 24th anniversary of the Boipatong Massacre, and in auspicious fashion, the Gauteng Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation in partnership with Gauteng Provincial Government and Sedibeng District Municipality hosted an activity packed programme for the community of Boipatong.

The programme ran in three (3) phases, with the first phase starting at 7am in the morning with a commemorative wreath laying with families of the victims at the Vuka Cemetery in Sharpeville, where many of the victims are buried. The programme was led by Sedibeng MMC for Sports, Recreation, Arts & Culture, Cllr. Yusuf Mahommed,  the keynote address was delivered by Gauteng MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, MEC Faith Mazibuko.

"This isn’t just a place‚ this is a building where we must all gain knowledge so that even young children and schoolchildren will come here and be able to learn‚" said the MEC.

The second phase took place at the Boipatong Monument where the delegates along with members of the Khulumani and Bana Ba Modimo support groups cut the ribbon to declare the monument open to offer youth services. The monument will be under the custodianship of the Gauteng Provincial Government for the next three (3) years and thereafter handed to Sedibeng District Municipality. After the ribbon cutting the delegates and the families lit candles in honour of the fallen.

“We will never forget their names or their sacrifices, which we also remember with sadness and gratitude today. None of us ever want to see a single other name added to this Memorial because, the struggle that we are facing today is not for liberation but for the fight against poverty and unemployment,” said Sedibeng Executive Mayor, Cllr. Busisiwe Modisakeng.

The day featured a soccer legends match, a 5 aside match, netball and cultural activities such as zulu and tswana dancers as well as a theatre group.

The commemoration of Boipatong massacre is a remembrance and honour of 46 people who were brutally killed 24 years ago in 1992 on the eve of South Africa’s democracy. It has been described by many as one of the bloodiest and brutal events of state sponsored violence at the time..

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