The 100 young people chosen to take part the Koeberg training programme to turn them into nuclear operators sang and danced last week, and they had good reason to celebrate.
Many of them had heard the stories of the struggle from their parents, and they had heard of the realities faced by the youth who fought for their liberation from the apartheid regime.
They had heard how hundreds of young people were killed by the apartheid police who fired live rounds at unarmed school children who simply wanted to be taught in their home language and receive an education.
Many of the young men and women who stood among the 100 still face the realities of a system that has left the youth of the past generation with little education and no means to escape poverty. So the opportunity these young nuclear operators of the future now have is a vitally important one, even more so when one considers it would not have been possible had it not been for the youth of 1976 who refused to accept the hand they were dealt.
