40th Commemoration of June 16th, 1976

40^th Commemoration of 1976 June 16

AMANDLA NGAWETHU! MATLA KE A RONA!

BLACK POWER!

 

To mothers who mothered martyrs

To fathers who fathered freedom fighters

To grandmothers who groom grassroots guerrillas

To grandfathers who guided guerrilla warfare gods

To sisters who sheltered struggle soldiers

To brothers who braved the bullets

To legends who were larger than life

To selfless souls who succumbed to several shots

To forgotten activists who fob the attacks

To leaders who were leading lights of our liberation

To visionaries who visualised victory

To defenders who danced and shot at the same time

To Africans in the continent who answered the clarion call

To the ’76 generation who lie in unmarked graves

To generation before ’76 who gave us the guts to face bullets and guns

To generations after the ’76 generation who gave up

To smart liberators who sacrificed life and limb

To arm struggle activists who became statistics of askaris

To human rights activists who were hanged by “righteous” apartheid

To people of the world who preached against apartheid apologists

To those who dare death, defending the defenceless

To cross border raids victims who constantly braved raids from “vultures” 

To peace loving South Africans whose pioneering spirit led to our new South Africa

To former solitary confinement prisoners who forever shared their conviction

To caring heroes and heroine who carry heavy hurts   

To those who were in the frontlines who fought fire with fire

To those who fell in the battlefields whose fire were building blocks

To those who die in exile whose dream was to end injustices

To great giants who gave up on their childhood goals

To those murdered senselessly who marched amid the storm

To conscientious objectors who challenged their orders

To children who became adults who champion bloody attacks

To those tortured violently who tormented the vestige of apartheid

To the voices of the voiceless who were vocal vanguards

To students who never went back to school

To numberless nameless comrades who never noted cops

To media personnel who were murdered and persecuted

To those who build from the past who promised a better product

To peoples’ servant who planted the spirit of non-surrender

To one and all who offended apartheid architects

4O years ON – AMANDLA NGAWETHU!

 

 

© ABAPHANSI - Zanele Mashinini 2016

ABAPHANSI - African Brave Artists Pushing Humanistic Answers Non-Stop Indefinitely