SA celebrates Human Rights Day

2006-03-20 10:49

Cape Town - On Tuesday South Africa will be remembering a bloody event almost 50 years ago which shook the world.

On 21 March 1960, 76 people were killed and 180 injured during a protest at Sharpeville near Vereeniging.

The protest, one of many planned across the country, was against the Pass laws, which required all Africans living or working in and around towns to carry a document (or pass) with them at all times.

Failure to carry this document would lead to arrest.

Forty-six years ago the people decided to go to police stations without their passes and demand the police to arrest them.

As the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) notes, the idea was that too many people would be arrested, filling the jails to such an extent that the country would not be able to function properly.

"It was hoped that this would lead to the Pass laws being scrapped," said the SAHRC.

But it was not to be as the apartheid government responded with an iron fist.

Later the same day, at Langa near Cape Town, police baton-charged and fired teargas at protesters, shooting three and injuring several others.

The Sharpeville massacre, as the event became known, prompted worldwide condemnation of SA's apartheid policies and marked the start of the armed resistance in the country.

On Tuesday, numerous events are planned to commemorate the fight for human rights, with Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan addressing the community of Phoenix, Durban on the centenary anniversary of Gandhi's satyagraha (Sanskrit for working in truth).

Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile will be in Mdantsane where a "veterans games" event was planned by the Eastern Cape government.

Besides the games, other major events were planned, including the reinterment at Alfred Nzo Heroes Acre, Matatiele, of seven fallen freedom fighters whose bodies were exhumed.

Provincial and municipal authorities in each province were also planning their own events.

- SAPA