On this day in 1960, 69 people were killed by police, while close to 200 were injured, in what has come to be known as the Sharpeville Massacre.
A breakaway organisation from the African National Congress (ANC) – the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) – staged the anti-pass demonstration outside the Sharpeville Police Station near Vereeniging. They voluntarily handed over their passes, demanding an end to the pass laws.
Some commentators argue that the events of Cato Manor, the year before, caused the policemen to open fire on the peaceful protesters. However, whatever reasons underpinned the decision to open fire, it was an unmitigated disaster, with the majority of the protesters shot in the back as they fled.
According to reports, the ANC had planned a similar campaign against the pass laws for 31 March 1960. The PAC pre-empted this and announced that their campaign would start ten days earlier.
The Sharpeville Massacre has seen Human Rights Day on 21 March celebrated as a public holiday in South Africa ever since 1994, and it is observed to commemorate this important event in our history, as well as the importance of all other human rights.
Information courtesy of: https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/sharpeville-massacre-takes-place.
