June 16, 1944,
He had his fall.
The judge judged George wrongly.
It was all a lie,
They made him cry.
He had to die,
Without a proper try.
They electrocuted him dry.
Seventy years later, they brought his case to live.
But they couldn’t bring back his life.
George Julius Stinny died at fifteen.
June 16, 1976;
Shot dead with 176.
700 Soweto Students killed,
4000 prayed to be healed.
They wanted a say,
Their lives, they used to pay.
Poor Hector Pieteson,
He died at thirteen.
Poor Soweto Children,
They died as teens.
After June 16, 1976;
From Soweto to Nigeria at a young age,
Admitted into Federal Government College.
He was just a teen,
Not far from eighteen.
Mbuyisa Makhubo ran to Nigeria for refuge.
But now the Nigerian Child has no refuge.
Since June 16, 1991.
We celebrate the African Children, one by one.
Thirty years after the adoption of this charter,
We plan for an Africa fit for children, 2040 agenda.
We celebrate the African children today,
But does the African Child have a say?
Our parents set high standards,
You can never reach even with a high sandals.
They choke us to death,
All we scream is, “we can’t breathe”.
Against our wheels (will) they set us in motion.
Tear and wear from a high friction.
Leaders of tomorrow be like fiction,
No peace in the Nation,
All we see is commotion.
Parents choking us,
Education system stressing us,
Guns fire us,
Our parents bury us
This is serious.
Hunger wire us.
Government policies hitting us,
Protests not saving us.
This is worse than corona virus.
Every June sixteen,
We wake up at sixteen
Dressed in fine satin
To plan for eighteen.
We make noise like polythene,
Speak English like Latin.
Cook lies in our canteen.
For the children and our teens.
We tell them its their thing.
And they up like a living fish in a small tin.
Things have gotten out of hand,
The quest for power, the struggle for land.
We have become tougher,
Loose our innocence while we suffer,
We die before sixteen,
Even after celebrating June sixteen.
