Zahid Jadwat | 21 March 2019 | Featured Image: Google
On Saturday, South Africans will unite to celebrate Human Rights Day. Zahid Jadwat spoke to the Democracy and Civic Engagement Unit Programme Manager at the Centre for Human Rights, Bonolo Makgale, to find out what exactly this day means for South Africans, especially against the backdrop of Apartheid.
Bonolo Makgale put the discussion into a historical perspective, saying: “If you think about it historically, on the 21st of March 1960, the Apartheid government’s Police killed 69 black South Africans and about 180 people were wounded. This was during a peaceful protest against the Pass law.”
She went on to explain how the Pass laws enforced by the regime of the time had dehumanized the native people and how this impacted on our appreciation of human rights today.
“What Human Rights Day means for us is [that we must] remember the ultimate price that was paid by the freedom fighters that were pushing back and fighting against the system that continued to dehumanize black lives.”
“This day is important because it was an act of defiance. Black South Africans were saying: ‘We are full humans and we have every right to exist in this country and our movement should not be regulated, let alone our humanity be validated by a small black book.’ So I think it’s an important day [for us] to celebrate where we are now.”
Listen to the full discussion below:
