June 1976 Commemorative Dialogue By Eunice Rakhale-Molefe

A powerful memoir that sets several facts straight regarding the June 16, 1976 insurrection.

Aimed at; first, demystifying and bringing to light omitted facts and secondly, to highlight the milestones that have been implemented as part of turning the heritage schools as institutions of academic excellence.

Rakhale-Molefe’s elaborate narrative is enhanced by interviews with the school’s alumni including former North West premier Popo
Molefe, Nelson Mandela Children ’s Fund spokesman Oupa Ngwenya, former director-general in president Thabo Mbeki’ s office Frank Chikane and Provincial Chief Director in the Department of Basic Education and Training’ s Zanele Mthembu. Others include Enos Ngutshane, the man whose letter to the Bantu education department rejecting Afrikaans as a medium of instruction sparked the June 16, 1976 insurrection, and retired Sowetan news editor Willie Bokala.

Highlighting how bad things were in the early 1970s and how the families and the entire communities’ lives were adversely affected.
Readers will appreciate the students’ noble and surprisingly mature liberation struggle roles, which they played as innocent youths who were reacting to an otherwise oppressive, suppressive and divisive regime.