The streets of Soweto echoed once again today to the songs and chants of the liberation struggle as South Africans marked the 30th anniversary of the Soweto uprising, a defining moment of the anti-apartheid movement.

Thabo Mbeki, the President of South Africa, led hundreds on an emotional march retracing the steps of scores of black schoolchildren who were demonstrating on June 16, 1976 against the imposition of a law forcing them to study in Afrikaans, the language of the oppressor.

Relatives of children killed when police opened fire wept openly as wreaths were laid in their memory. The ceremony took place at Soweto’s memorial to Hector Pieterson, the first and youngest victim of a brutal response from the security forces which outraged international opinion.

The picture of the dying 13-year-old Hector being carried away in the arms of a fellow student came to symbolise the sacrifices of young people in the fight against white minority rule and for democracy.

It was shown on newspaper front pages around the world and signalled a turning-point in the world’s attitude to apartheid.

Sam Nzima, the photographer who took that picture, was overcome with emotion and unable to speak as he embraced President Mbeki near the scene of the shooting. "He took a great picture, but it is still hurting inside him today," Mr Mbeki told The Times.

It is estimated that more than 500 others, many young schoolchildren, were killed in the student uprising and its aftermath as it quickly spread to other townships. The event galvanised a largely dormant liberation movement weakened by the jailing of its leaders and recruitment of black collaborators.

Thousands of young people joined the underground movement, hundreds were detained and tortured and many others fled into exile.

"I went to China for military training. I never finished my education," said Trofomo Sono, 49. "But it was worth it. We have a great society today, a great democracy — many problems, but life is getting better slowly for everyone."

The two-hour march began at Morris Isaacson school, where the initial protest was planned, and ended at the memorial. As old comrades embraced and the crowd sang a Zulu struggle song Senzeni na (We are Crying), Hector’s mother Dorothy Molefi, accompanied by Mr Mbeki, laid her wreath.

"I am so happy he did not die for nothing," Isabel Boto, 70, said of her nephew, Tsietsi Mashinini, one of the leaders of 1976 who died in exile in Guinea 14 years later, either of Aids or assassination. Earlier, a collage was unveiled in his honour.

In a sombre speech, Mr Mbeki told a crowd of 20,000 people at the FNB stadium that young South Africans were confronted by poverty, unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse, and Aids.

He accepted that a lot still had to be done to improve the education system, but called on the youth of today to emulate the determination of the generation of 1976 in fighting for a better society.

But today was a day of remembrance, and few people wanted to dwell on the challenges of the future.

Phala Modise, 47, said that he was proud to have been one of the original protesters. "We were just people of our time, but we throw a pebble in the water and its ripples just grew and grew. We realised then our enemy was not so strong," he said.

His friend Franklin Tlhoaele, now a manager with the city council, agreed. "For us at the time it was a short walk, but it began that long march towards liberty," he said.

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