IN the lead up to Human Rights Day on Friday, 21 March the Sun will on a daily basis publish each of the rights afforded to every South African, as contained in the Bill of Rights in the Constitution.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was launched on 21 March,1996, 35 years after the fateful events of 21 March, 1960 when demonstrators in Sharpeville were gunned down by police.
The aim of the Commission is to promote respect for human rights, promote the protection, development and attainment of human rights, and to monitor and assess the observance of human rights in SA.
The Native Laws Amendment Act of 1952 extended the apartheid government’s control over the movement of Africans to urban areas and abolished the use of the pass book (a document which Africans were required to carry on them to ‘prove’ that they were allowed to enter a ‘white area’) in favour of a reference book which had to be carried at all times by all Africans.
Failure to produce the reference book, on demand by the police was a punishable offence. The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) proposed an anti-pass campaign to start on 21 March, 1960. All African men were to take part in the campaign without their passes and present themselves for arrest.
Campaigners gathered at police stations in townships near Johannesburg where they were dispersed by police. At the Sharpeville police station, a scuffle broke out. Part of a wire fence was trampled, allowing the crowd to move forward. The police opened fire, apparently without having been given a prior order to do so. Sixty-nine people were killed and 180 wounded.
In apartheid South Africa, this day became known as Sharpeville Day and although not part of the official calendar of public holidays, the event was commemorated among anti-apartheid movements.
