Weighed under the pressure of a turbulent and difficult past the youth of today face a real crisis of how to leave their legacy on the blood stained pages of South African history.





South Africa is unique in it's past, a past that reflects inequality at it's worst. The policy of Apartheid was for many black citizens, and white sympathisers, of South Africa a hard rock that was constantly being pushed against, they labelled their efforts "The Struggle". For those who lived and died for the freedom of all races in South Africa it was the only life they knew, it gave them a motivation, a reason to rise and a determination in the face of a seemingly long dark future. These men were heroes then as many are still today and their legacy of being in the "the Struggle" brought much pride and honour to them and their families. When they had eventually achieved their dream it seemed that the very spirit of the living, such as Nelson Mandela, and the dead, martyrs such as Steve Biko, carried the Nation into a eutopia of hope and prosperity but the dream soon died as the youth become more and more detached from their predecessors. When History books extensively tell of revolutionary events like the Sharpeville Massacre and honour those in Umkhonto we Sizwe, the ANC's military wing, the youth feel the book is almost full and that times are not as they were before, there is no "Struggle".

Of course there will always be a struggle, a struggle for work, a struggle for food, a struggle to be represented in a new Democracy but the problem with these struggles is they are too individualistic and material, Historians have painted "The Struggle" as a political Struggle hardly ever mentioning the economic or individual struggles these stalwarts faced and so the youth think the only way to be idolised and leave their "mark " on society is to fight the establishment, after all thats what their predeccesors did and they were honoured with Street names and Public Parks.

An unknown poet once said "If a man doesn't have something that he's willing to die for then he isn't fit to live" and perhaps thats the problem with our youth of today they are simply looking for a cause , or "struggle " to live and die for, perhaps thats the reason that Leaders like Zuma and Malema have in different times in their political lifetime been able to galvanise such fanatical support because they portray a political struggle, a Us V Them that fills that need for a struggle.Perhaps the utter need for a common enemy has caused us to blame something on "foreigners" a term so loosely used that it may encompass almost anyone that a charismatic leader can galvanise a crowd against. Perhaps it's time to not forget "The Struggle " but to redefine it, for our youth's sake.