10 fun facts about South Africa’s youth
June is Youth Month in South Africa – a time when we honour the sacrifices the youth of our country made in the fight for a free and democratic South Africa.
1. Before it was declared a public holiday and renamed, Youth Day was known as Soweto Day.
2. A banned book that was later turned into a Hollywood movie, called A Dry White Season, is inspired by the events of June 16.
3. Nkosi Johnson, a young Aids activist who had been denied entry to school due to his condition, was the youngest keynote speaker in history at the International Aids Conference 2000.
4. Young South African performer Master KG attained fame when his song, Jerusalema, took the world by storm in 2020.
5. Eddie Ndopu is the youngest serving UN Sustainable Development Goal Advocate, sharing the honour with the likes of former First Lady Graca Machel and American actor Forest Whitaker.
6. In 2016, Zulaikha Patel made headlines and government reviewed it’s school policies after she protested against policies that discriminated against wearing her hair in an Afro.
7. Caster Semenya was only 25 years old when she broke the world record for running 800m in under a minute at the 2016 Olympic Games.
8. The percentage of South Africans between 14 and 35 years (classified as youth) is around 66%.
9. Western Cape high school classmates Unam Halam and Faith Claasen’s invented the drop saver – a device that can be attached to a tap to prevent water dripping/leaking.
10. Dr Thakgalo Thibela become Africa’s youngest female medical doctor at only 21 years old.
