Welcome to the new #Revolution
South Africa's young people have always been politically active, some at least, politically aware - from the 1976 uprisings against an Apartheid education system to the countrywide #FeesMustFall movement by university students last year.
In 1976, black pupils took to the streets denouncing Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. They wanted to be taught in their mother tongue. Years on, the issues have changed, but a similar restlessness prevails - this time among many young people from different backgrounds.
As young South Africans we are described or viewed in many ways. At times we are viewed as outspoken. We are viewed as opinionated and for the most part to have a nonchalant attitude towards life in general and issues at large. At times, the labels veer off to include naïve and arrogant. But we've always known how to make our voices heard. We mobilise, we shout and scream - We demand that you take notice. We speak out against what we believe and perceive to be injustices.
And June 16 - remains the starkest reminder of just how forceful and courageous young people of this country can be. On the day in 1976, thousands of young people started a peaceful march and were met by heavily armed police deployments. What followed thereafter is inseparable from images of a lifeless Hector Pieterson being carried by a fellow learner through the streets of Soweto.
The events would later form part of the wider demand for equality and an end to segregation and racism.
These battles rage on in many spheres of our society today. But we face new challenges.
The modern day restlessness among young South Africans could be justified by recent statistics. Our democracy is 22 years old. We have equal rights - Everyone has a right to vote and all are equal before the law. But in reality it seems there are few fruits left to pluck from the tree of democracy planted by our parents' revolution.
Young South Africans (15-34) constitute the majority of both victims and perpetrators of crime. The youth make up two thirds of the more than five million unemployed in the country. Higher education is a pipe dream for many.
Which makes the current demand for free higher education something that authorities must sit up and take notice of. This is an issue that young people are not going to let go off. This is not a battle the youth seems prepared to just give up on. Consider the following - regardless of the strides we have made, years on, it's still the black youth, in the main, being marginalised when it comes to education.
And while the Soweto Uprising was not promoted with a hashtag - many of the slogans chanted at the time, will find a place in modern day society.
#FeesMustFall
"Down with Afrikaans".
Whether it is against something the government forced on its youth or something the government says it simply cannot provide - the outcomes have been similar - civil action. A fist directed at the heavens has the same meaning in every language. And there is no rich or poor while we are on the street, especially at the business end of public order policing.
South Africa celebrates its young people again today - while commemorating the class of 76. Years from now, I hope we will be celebrating my generation, those termed Born Frees. I hope in years to come, we will look back in admiration of what we have achieved. Most of all I hope - that the revolution would have moved on.