'Sharpeville was not in vain'
2005-03-21 12:52
Durban - North West premier Edna Molewa called on South Africans to celebrate Human Rights Day on Monday by taking stock of their achievements in building a society whose values were defined by its adherence to human rights and constitutional democracy.
"We must work hard to ensure that never again will anyone in our country suffer the humiliation and indignity of having their human rights systematically violated with impunity," she said.
Molewa said that in the North West, which was largely a rural province, it was important to defend the progress made in bringing human rights to people on farms.
She said South Africans now had access to social grants, freedom of speech, movement and associations as well as freedom of the press.
Speaking at a Human Rights Day celebration in Klipgat, Molewa said 11 years since the country's liberation, South Africans could look back to the events in Sharpeville on March 21, 1960 with sadness and satisfaction.
"Satisfaction that the cause for which they died... was not in vain."
On the day of the Sharpeville massacre, 69 people were killed and close to 200 wounded when police opened fire on people protesting against apartheid pass laws.
- SAPA