SOUTH AFRICA REMEMBERS SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE

On 21 March, South Africans are reminded of the price they had to pay in their fight to bring down the brutal apartheid regime. On this day in 1960, apartheid security forces opened fire on unarmed Black protesters in Sharpeville township on the outskirts of the industrial city of Vereeniging, killing 69 of them and injuring at least 180. The victims had taken to the streets to demonstrate against laws that required Black people to have a permit to travel around the country.

The Pan-African Congress party, which had organised the protest, was banned shortly after. So was the African National Congress (ANC), which was the country's leading anti-apartheid movement.

The atrocity sparked an international outcry, drawing global attention to the brutality of the apartheid system. It also prompted the UN to declare 21 March the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The massacre would push the ANC to shift from non-violent resistance to armed struggle, as it became clear that peaceful means alone would not work against a brutal regime.

Sources

https://www.snl24.com/dailysun/news/human-rights-day-anc-remembers-sharpeville-heroes-20250321

https://www.iol.co.za/sport/opinion/human-rights-day-sharpeville-massacre-united-the-world-against-apartheid-but-sa-sporting-isolation-took-too-long-ask-the-all-blacks-44c37c6a-2d5e-4b40-a889-caa53077c5bc

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-18-65-years-after-sharpeville-human-rights-struggles-in-todays-south-africa/?dm_source=dm_block_grid&dm_medium=card_link_sponsored&dm_campaign=main

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/aujh/vol13/iss1/5/