The murder of sixty-nine unarmed civilians by armed South African police, took place on 21 March 1960
Photo – UhuruSpirit.org
The call to rename Human Rights Day to Sharpeville Day has gained support. Human Right’s Day as we know it, has been for many, a day of celebration following the dismantling of apartheid. In doing so the events that took place on 21 March 1960 become an afterthought in their celebrations.
Moulana Vuyo Mokoena spoke with Salaamedia’s Julie Alli and shared his thoughts about the Sharpeville massacre.
“An unfortunate day in 1960 in Sharpeville on 21 March. The PAC (Pan Africanist Congress) led by the honourable Robert Sobukwe were marching against the pass laws and they were marching to abolish these laws. They had a very strong desire to do away, to ascertain their freedom at all expenses but by being non-violent. The police opened fire on them, and we can count almost ninety people died that day.”
The Sharpeville protest was one of the numerous efforts executed by oppressed South Africans in their struggle for freedom from the oppressive system of Apartheid. South Africans believe that 21 March should be recognized as the day fellow citizens laid their lives down for a greater cause.
Moulana Mokoena elaborated more on why we should rename Human Rights Day, “In an attempt to change history you start to distort faith and you say this is Human Rights Day, someone thinks that you know on this day something great was attained. It was attained but it was attained many years later with this new dispensation.”
The title of Human Right’s Day does not encapsulate the true nature of the Sharpeville Massacre and invalidates the events that took place. Moulana Mokoena explained, to get the government to implement this change, people need to let their voices be heard.
“We have to stand up and speak. We have a lot of civil society groups in South Africa. I think if we started this civil society, with all those who are always, you know calling the government to account, if we can lobby those people, we can start raising awareness then we can take it to the highest level directly with people who have already engaged the government and calling them to account.”
The commemoration of Human Right’s Day and the banner under which it is being commemorated has been a debated topic for many years since the introduction of our democracy.
Former spokesperson for the African National Congress (ANC), Carl Niehaus said, “It is very important first of all that historically we acknowledge the deaths of those people, the sacrifices that they made and do not try to smooth it over or sweep it under the carpet.”
He was never comfortable with the choice and mentioned it within the party at that time, however it was dismissed and the view for it to be named Human Rights Day prevailed.
Many felt the name, Human Right’s Day, provided a façade, masking the tragedy that took place. The name Human Rights Day is felt to be used too loosely as there are still basic rights that do not exist for many South Africans.
“We should be more concerned about the erosion of our human rights, and we should be more concerned about establishing economic empowerment for the majority of our people than celebrating human rights that are constantly being eroded and watered down,” stated Niehaus.
For Niehaus 21 March should not only be renamed Sharpeville Day but Sharpeville Massacre Day.
He said, “Well the people of the country must speak. We have the right to have our democratic views and we must petition the government to change the name and bring it back to the historical recognition.” Niehaus mentioned further that what took place during the negotiating process was a “gross error”.
The call to bring restorative justice to an injustice that was committed continues to get attention. This begs the question, come 21 March 2023, will we be remembering Human Right’s Day or Sharpeville Massacre Day.
