Tshwane deputy mayor Eugene Modise calls for June 16 inquest

Karabo Ngoepe | Published 55 minutes ago

City of Tshwane Deputy Executive Mayor Eugene Modise has called for a formal, authoritative inquest into the events of June 16, 1976, arguing that South Africa has never properly accounted for the lives lost during the Soweto Uprising.

Addressing diplomats, academics, government officials and youth leaders at a continental youth summit hosted by the University of South Africa (UNISA) on Tuesday, Modise said South Africa owes the generation of 1976 an honest reckoning with its past.

“We are told by somebody else that 176 people died, somebody else says 20 people died within the killings, but we don’t have the factual evidence of what transpired,” he told delegates.

Modise urged summit organisers to include a call for a formal inquest among the gathering’s resolutions, describing it as a matter of both historical accountability and national dignity.

“I feel we owe the youth of 1976,” he said.

The proposal emerged as one of the most unexpected interventions of the summit, which coincided with the 50th anniversary of the student-led uprising against apartheid education policies.

But Modise’s remarks extended beyond history. He used the occasion to challenge what he described as South Africa’s continued failure to place young people at the centre of decision-making.

He argued that despite constituting the country’s largest demographic group, young people remain largely absent from the institutions that shape policy, economic opportunity and governance.

“South Africa’s largest population group remains the least represented in many of the spaces where decisions about them are made,” he said.

Modise called for what he described as transversal youth representation across Parliament, provincial legislatures, municipalities, universities and corporate leadership structures.

“We must advocate and ensure that representation of youth is transversal across Parliament. We must make noise. Parliament must reflect the demographics of this country,” he said.

“Each and every company that is doing business in this country must have that representation, more especially in the leadership of that company. We cannot stop apologising for this anymore.”

The Deputy Mayor linked South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis, which he estimated at approximately 62%, to an education system that continues to produce graduates without the practical skills and opportunities needed to build sustainable livelihoods.

“We have created an environment where our youth look like fools, and we must change that narrative and we must change it now,” he said.

He cautioned delegates against allowing the summit to become another forum for discussion without tangible outcomes.

“Let us not turn this summit into a talk shop about a battle of ideas at the expense of big English, but it must find expression in all the youth of this country.”

Modise pointed to countries such as Japan and India, whose governments supported national industrial champions, including Toyota and Tata, as examples of long-term economic planning that South Africa has failed to replicate.

He argued that social grants alone cannot address the scale of youth exclusion.

“We cannot give our youth 350 rand. It is an insult.”

Drawing on a concept increasingly discussed in continental policy circles, Modise endorsed the idea of recognising young people as Africa’s “seventh region”, arguing that the continent’s institutions should reflect the importance leaders routinely assign to youth development.

“If we genuinely believe that young people are Africa’s greatest resource, then our institutions must reflect that. If we celebrate youth innovation, then we must create pathways for youth leadership. If we champion youth entrepreneurship, then we must unlock financing mechanisms that allow youth innovators to scale their ideas,” he said.

He added that meaningful transformation would require governments and institutions to create environments where young people can experiment, fail and learn.

“We must reach a stage where we create a conducive room for our youth to make mistakes, and we must invest heavily in that process.”

Speaking in his capacity as Member of the Mayoral Committee for Finance in Tshwane, Modise said the city had taken deliberate steps to reserve portions of its procurement budget for youth-owned businesses, a decision that has attracted legal challenges.

“They are taking us to court. We will meet them there,” he said.

For Modise, budgeting is ultimately a reflection of political priorities.

“Budgets are moral documents. They reveal what we prioritise. They reveal our commitment to the future. The true measure of development is not only the infrastructure we maintain or revenue generation, but it is the direct investment into youth.”

His closing remarks returned to the question that framed much of his address: implementation.

Recalling post-apartheid higher education reforms championed by former Education Minister Kader Asmal, Modise warned th…