THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FREEDOM CHARTER AND 39TH ANNIVERSARY OF YOUTH UPRISING @KASIBC_NEWS
The African National Congress this month commemorates the 70th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter, adopted by the Congress of the People on 26 June 1955 in Kliptown, and pays tribute to the youth who took part in the 1976 Uprising, who rose in defiance on 16 June to confront the brutality of apartheid and demand justice in education and our nation.
This is a sacred time of remembrance, reflection, and renewal, as we draw strength from the vision of those who came before us and recommit ourselves to the urgent tasks of today. We do not mark this month out of routine, nor do we merely look back. As President Oliver Reginald Tambo declared in 1980 during The Year of the Charter, we are called to rise to the occasion and to renew our pledge of dedication to the future it visualises. That future is not abstract. It is the daily struggle for a society in which The People Shall Govern, where The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall Be Open to All, and where There Shall Be Work and Security.
That future is owed to our young people today, who are not only inheritors of a proud tradition of struggle, but also the builders of a new era. June 2025 is therefore not a commemoration of dates but a living call to conscience. It is a rallying cry to forge a just society where the promises of the Freedom Charter become lived realities for the youth, for women, for workers, and for those who have long been excluded from the full fruits of democracy.
The Charter must not remain ink on paper or etched only in memory. It must be a tool of mobilisation, of education, and of transformation.
This June is both Freedom Charter Month and Youth Month. The ANC reaffirms that the Charter is the soul of our democracy and a revolutionary programme that remains as relevant in 2025 as it was in 1955. Its ten clauses are the moral compass of our Constitution and our transformation agenda. In every community and ward, the ANC calls on branches, leagues and alliance partners to take up this campaign and use the Charter to illuminate our work in the fight against youth unemployment, gender-based violence, and the crisis of political trust and participation.
The theme for Youth Month 2025, “Skills for the Changing World – Empowering Youth for Meaningful Economic Participation,” speaks directly to the demands of our time. It calls on all of us to act with intention, urgency, and clarity. Young people are not just the future; they are the present. They are calling for pathways into the economy, for dignity in work, for access to quality education, and for the right to shape decisions that affect their lives.
The Charter’s call that “the people shall share in the country’s wealth” cannot be postponed. It must be realised through concrete investment in skills, industries, infrastructure, and public innovation. This month must also be a space of community activism and involvement in the fight against the scourge of violence against women and children.
The brutal murder of Olorato Kganyago, and the many women, children, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community who continue to face violence and indignity, require from us not words but resolute action. The Charter tells us that all shall be equal before the law and this is not negotiable. GBVF is not a women’s issue; it is a national crisis. It is a direct threat to the democratic promise, and as a society we must uproot it at its core.
Let this month be a turning point. Let us build spaces of safety and love, of positive masculinities, of respect and equality. We call on the youth of 2025 to be the generation that ends the scourge of violence and reclaims the streets, homes, schools, and workplaces for dignity and peace. As the ANC commemorates 40 years since the founding of COSATU later this year, and reflects on the 30th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, let us remember that none of these milestones are detached from the Charter.
The struggles of workers, of women, of the disabled and the poor are all stitched together by that historic document, the Freedom Charter, which spoke not just of political rights, but of land, of housing, of healthcare, of education, of economy, of peace and friendship. Let June be the month in which the Charter speaks again, not only in lectures and posters, but in the voice of the unemployed graduate, in the demands of the township girl who insists on walking safely, in the call of the informal worker seeking recognition, and in the dignity of the child learning in their mother tongue.
Let it speak in our policies, in our meetings, in our communities and in our streets. The ANC makes a rallying call to all sectors of society to rise to the occasion in affirming the hopes of 1955 and confronting the challenges of 2025 with unity, purpose and conviction. Let us make this Freedom Charter Month and Youth Month a living campaign of renewal.
Let us honour the sacrifices of the youth of 1976 not through ceremony alone, but through action that transforms lives and upholds the values they fought for. In the coming days, the ANC will announce a series of programmes forming part of the official commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter. All power to the people.
