The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s first-ever partial event hearing took place at the Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Soweto in mid-July 1996. The focus was the twentieth anniversary of the June 16 Soweto uprising – the day thousands of black children revolted against the apartheid system of Bantu Education and Afrikaans as the medium of instruction. All hell broke out when the police unleashed their dogs, tear gas and bullets on students armed with stones, knives and fire. The official cost a week later: more than a thousand injuries, 900 arrests and 140 corpses – the first being that of teenager Hector Peterson. He became the innocent symbol in the turning point of the liberation struggle for democracy.

Credits: Angie Kapelianis, Manana Makhanya and Danny Booysen.

Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/slicesright.htm#you

From the series South Africa's Human Spirit. Available wherever you find your podcasts. 

© SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC.