Each year, Youth Month provides an opportunity to reflect on one of the most significant moments in South Africa’s history and to honour the young people whose courage helped shape the country we live in today. For many South Africans, the events of 16 June 1976 are familiar. We learn about them at school, we hear the stories retold in the media, and we recognise their importance in our nation’s journey towards democracy. Yet with every passing year, there is a risk that the reality of what those young people experienced becomes more distant and more difficult to fully comprehend.
For those of us who did not live through apartheid, it is easy to view history through the comfort of hindsight. We know how the story unfolded. We know the significance of the Soweto Uprising. We know that the actions of thousands of students became a defining moment in the struggle for freedom. What can be more difficult to grasp is what it must have felt like to be a young person living through those events, facing uncertainty, fear, and consequences that few of us can truly imagine.
The freedoms enjoyed by many South Africans today did not emerge by chance. They were earned through the sacrifices of countless individuals who believed that a better future was possible, even when that future seemed far beyond reach. Youth Month serves as an important reminder that young people have never simply been passive participants in history. Time and again, they have been among its most influential architects.
Reflecting on this legacy raises an important question for every generation: what do we do with the freedoms we inherit?
Freedom is often understood as the absence of restriction, but it is also the presence of opportunity and responsibility. It provides us with the ability to think, to learn, to engage with different perspectives, and to participate in shaping the future. Perhaps one of the most powerful expressions of freedom is the ability to question.
Throughout history, meaningful progress has often begun when individuals have been willing to challenge accepted ideas and ask difficult questions. Societies advance when people examine existing systems, identify shortcomings, and seek better solutions. Scientific discovery follows a similar path. New knowledge emerges not because we assume we already have all the answers, but because we remain curious enough to keep asking questions.
History provides countless examples of this principle. In the nineteenth century, physician Ignaz Semmelweis faced fierce criticism when he proposed that doctors should wash their hands between treating patients, despite evidence that doing so dramatically reduced maternal deaths. John Snow challenged prevailing beliefs about the spread of cholera and helped establish the foundations of modern epidemiology. Barry Marshall and Robin Warren spent years convincing the medical community that stomach ulcers could be caused by bacteria rather than stress alone. Even Albert Einstein transformed our understanding of the universe by questioning assumptions about space, time, and gravity that had long been accepted as fact. These advances were not the result of rejecting science, but of following evidence and remaining open to the possibility that established ideas may not always tell the full story.
At The Noakes Foundation, our work is centred on nutrition, metabolic health, and chronic disease, but at its core, it is also about that same spirit of curiosity and critical thinking. The growing burden of chronic disease facing South Africa and the world demands that we continue asking difficult questions. Why are rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other non-communicable diseases continuing to rise despite decades of public health efforts? How can we better support individuals and communities to improve their health? What approaches are working, and where might we need to reconsider long-held assumptions?
These questions are not asked to undermine science, but to strengthen it. The scientific process depends on a willingness to challenge ideas, test hypotheses, and follow evidence wherever it leads. Progress in medicine, nutrition, and public health has always relied on individuals who were prepared to think critically and remain open to new possibilities.
As we commemorate Youth Month, it is worth remembering that the legacy of 1976 extends beyond a single day or historical event. It reminds us of the power of conviction, the importance of questioning injustice, and the role that young people can play in driving meaningful change. It also reminds us that freedom carries with it a responsibility to remain engaged, informed, and willing to think independently.
The challenges facing South Africa today are different from those faced by previous generations, but the qualities that drive progress remain remarkably similar. Courage, curiosity, critical thinking, and a commitment to creating a better future are as important now as they have ever been.
This Youth Month, as we honour the sacrifices of those who came before us, we can also reflect on how we use the freedoms they helped secure. Whether in our communities, our workplaces, our schools, our research, or our personal health journeys, positive change often begins with a simple decision: to remain curious enough to ask whether there might be a better way forward.
