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What happened on the 26th of June is a crime and we share a responsibility as a people to ensure that a tragedy like this never happens again.
These were the words of President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday when he delivered the eulogy at the mass funeral of 19 of the 21 youngsters who died under still-mysterious circumstances at the Enyobeni tavern in Scenery Park, East London.
While post-mortems had been done on all 21 victims, the toxicology reports are still outstanding.
The youngsters died during the early hours of Sunday, June 26, in what the Eastern Cape Health Department had confirmed was not a result of a stampede.
"The forensic evidence shows that their deaths as a result of a supposed stampede can be ruled out," the department's deputy director-general for clinical services, Dr Litha Matiwane, said.
"In conjunction with the police we are committed to engage with the respective families as and when we are in receipt of the analytical laboratory results," he said.
President Ramaphosa added, however, that there is blame to be laid.
"Blame must be laid at the feet of those who are making money off the dreams and lives of the young people of South Africa by breaking the law and selling them alcohol."
"Children should not have been allowed inside that place, a place of adults. They should not have been served alcohol. What was happening was illegal," said the President.
He also commend the Buffalo City Metro Municipality for cracking down on establishments that are breaking the law and said this must be replicated in every district in the country.
"As communities, we have to come together to do more to collectively bring up and support our children and play a more active role in their lives," he added.
"We have to help our law-enforcement authorities to keep our young people safe by working with them. We must work with municipal authorities to report not just shebeens and taverns selling alcohol to minors, but also places where young people are sold drugs."
President Ramaphosa concluded his eulogy by calling on the BCM Metro and the Eastern Cape government to make good on their promises to develop more spaces and programmes for the young people of Scenery Park and other disadvantaged areas of the province.
"Our young people should not be forced to hang on street corners, to visit taverns, and end up in dangerous places because they have nowhere else to hang out."
"Today we shed bitter tears for the 21 young people that have died in this tragedy. We must ensure that there is justice for them. This is a national crisis, and we are going to act."
Before this tragedy, there was the Osi’s tavern in Khayelitsha in 2015, where eight young women died. There was the Throb nightclub disaster in Durban in 2000, where 13 children died and 100 were injured.
The President said they were all selling and serving alcohol to underage patrons, in violation of the law.
He added that binge drinking even among those over 18 is a growing problem and called on Tertiary Institutions to look at ways to curb the availability of alcohol on their premises, including in residences and at recreational facilities on campuses.
