Former pupil still haunted by memories
PATRICIA Kanyane keeps a thick file containing documents of memories that have haunted her for 40 years.
These include the songs the pupils sang during their march in the streets of Soweto on June 16 1976.
Earlier this month, she travelled more than 400km from Malelane in Mpumalanga where she was forced to flee after June 1976 in order to be among the people commemorating the day yesterday.
Until the unbanning of liberation movements in 1990, she was unable to speak openly about her experiences of the day that changed her life and those of thousands others.
Kanyane, now 61, was among the many Soweto pupils who marched against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in township schools on that fateful day 40 years ago. Yesterday she woke up earlier than usual and prayed.
“I felt emotional,” she said near Morris Isaacson High School in Central Western Jabavu, Soweto, where she was a Grade 11 pupil when pupils rose up against the apartheid government in 1976.
“I woke up and prayed to God. Others died on that day, but God has preserved me until this day.”
Yesterday was the first time she was spending June 16 in Soweto since 1976. She walked from her relative’s home in Zondi to Morris Isaacson High School hoping to find some closure to memories that have haunted her all these years.
“I can’t forget that day. In the past I used to feel like I was suffocating when I tried to speak about what happened. Now I want to teach people about my experiences,” said Kanyane.
She was surprised to see a bronze statue of Tsietsi Mashinini, one of the student leaders at the time, towering above passersby on the pavement opposite the June 16 Memorial Acre opposite the school.
“Tsietsi was our prefect. He used to check our uniforms and see that our shoes were polished. He was a very friendly person. He was very