IFP blames ANC for Sharpeville protests
2012-03-22 20:08
Johannesburg - The ANC is to blame for the protests in Sharpeville, southern Gauteng, because the main Human Rights Day celebration was held in Soweto, the IFP said on Thursday.
"We fully understand the frustrations of the Sharpeville residents with regard to government's decision to change the venue for the 2012 Human Rights Day celebrations," Inkatha Freedom Party MPL Joshua Mazibuko said in a statement.
"They are trying to brush out everyone who was not part of the [African National Congress, SA Communist Party, United Democratic Front, Congress of SA Trade Unions] alliance and project themselves as the sole liberators of this country."
Mazibuko said the changing of the venue was a deliberate move by the ANC as it was trying to rewrite history.
"Unless the ANC stops this malicious programme, we will see a lot more such incidents where people protest against the trivialisation of their contributions to the demise of apartheid," he said.
Sharpeville residents burned tyres and marched on Tuesday because the celebrations were being held in Kliptown, Soweto.
Human Rights Day was previously known as Sharpeville Day to commemorate the shooting of 69 black protesters by the police in 1960.
- SAPA
