Today should be known as Sharpeville Massacre Remembrance Day as a
reminder of the sacrifice made by 69 people including 29 children, who were
brutally massacred at the hands of the white racist apartheid regime, when
they took a stand against pass (dompas) laws on 21 March 1960. It is said
that the police indiscriminately fired 700 rounds into the crowd of unarmed
protestors — many of whom were shot in the back as they fled. The
government of the day would have us all enable their convenient amnesia by
referring to it as Human Rights Day. It is truly fascinating how easily the
oppressed becomes the oppressor.
The African National Congress has presided over the highest levels of
inequality making South Africa the most unequal society in the world. They
are also responsible for economic policies that have resulted in half the
Black population being unemployed. In the calendar year of 2022 there were
a total of 202 days of rolling blackouts (loadshedding) in South Africa. The
irony of those responsible for this level of suffering commemorating a Human
Rights Day as they knowingly trample on so many human rights of the very
people they are meant to serve. This is hardly surprising if you know who you
are dealing with where the ANC is concerned, it was the ANC who changed
the name to Human Rights Day in an effort to assuage their white funders
(read: masters) after all. This same anti-Black anti-poor ANC, now in
government, forces the entire nation to embrace this continued erasure of
the atrocities perpetrated by the apartheid state such as the Sharpeville
Massacre.
It was this same ANC who declined an invitation from the PAC to participate
in the anti pass laws that would lead to the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960.
ANC said through spokesperson Duma Nokwe that they would not take part
in the proposed action as it “would not succeed”. This same yellow-bellied
ANC, spearheaded the disgusting anti national shutdown campaign that
dominated the media airwaves in the last week, relying on some bottom of
the barrel “swart gevaar” narratives that mischaracterise Black people as a
mindless, violent, barbaric bunch of subhumans who lack the ability to
behave appropriately in public. Others resorted to despicable red herrings,
seeking to draw parallels between the EFF’s proposed national shutdown
and the leaderless riots and looting sprees that gripped the country in July
The ANC government in unison with its backers in the media,
academia and business exposed just how little regard they have for Black
people, celebrating the deployment of 3400 soldiers at a cost of R166 million
when there is supposedly no money to feed hungry children.
The ANC often unleashes its thugs to brutalise Black people who exercise
their universal human right to protest, whether it be a service delivery protest
in Ficksburg or a wage dispute in Marikana… hence ANC participates in this
erasure of our history because it is expedient for them to do so, however we
have absolutely no reason to be their enablers. Black people need to stop
being satisfied with mere symbolic gestures that are not accompanied by
substantive changes — we should not only demand the name changes to
Sharpeville Massacre Remembrance Day but also demand the return of the
land, demand justice for apartheid crimes, and demand total freedom from
colonial domination.