'Day of partying and having a good time'

THE blood of the youth spilt in 1976 and days spent in detention for the biggest act of protest against the apartheid regime by the country's young people has been reduced to nothing more than an excuse to party by today's youth, former Nelson Mandela Bay youth activists said.

As the country gears up to commemorate Youth Day on Monday, Bay politicians-turned-businessmen Mkhuseli "Khusta" Jack and Mike Xego said today's youngsters were taking their freedoms for granted and had devalued the sacrifices made by many for such freedoms.

Xego and Jack were firebrand youth activists who were very active in the struggle against apartheid in the Bay region and the country as a whole.

"To me, June 16 is an important historical event that was the turning point and beginning of a new dispensation in South Africa," Xego said. "We took the struggle into our own hands because we were hungry to make a difference because we had had enough of what they were doing to us. - Zandile Mbabela and Chanice Koopman