South Africa celebrated Human Rights Day on the 21^st of March. We would do well to remember the events that led to this day being declared a public holiday. This day is highly significant because, 65 years ago, nearly 100 people lost their lives and 238 were wounded during protest actions against pass laws that took place across the country. This campaign intensified the struggle against the unjust laws under which the apartheid government oppressed its Black citizens.

During apartheid, Coloured, Black, Indian, and Chinese citizens had restricted movement and were required by law to carry registration documents in the form of a domestic pass or ‘dompas.’ This document ‘allowed’ Black people to enter and remain in areas not designated to them, and they were required to carry the document at all times. In apartheid South Africa, Black citizens who failed to produce the dompas were arrested immediately.

The exclusivity of the apartheid laws, which benefited the white minority, stood in stark contrast to the harsh reality faced by the country’s indigenous black citizens every day.

In March of 1960, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), a breakaway group from the African National Congress (ANC) led by Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, launched a campaign protesting the dompas laws. With the women remaining at home, the men left their dwellings without their dompasses and walked directly to police stations.

The strategy was one of civil disobedience, aiming for mass arrests that would overwhelm police stations in the then Transvaal (now Gauteng), where the protests began. In Sharpeville, protests turned violent quickly when police struggled to contain and control the crowds flooding the police stations. According to apartheid officials, 69 people were killed and more than 200 people were left injured. However, recent revisions suggest that the number of deaths was closer to 91.

In Langa, more than 6000 people joined the anti-pass laws campaign and marched to police stations in Philippi and Langa without their dompas documents. When news of the killings in Sharpeville reached the protesters, they gathered in response. As the police attempted to disperse the crowd, they were met with stone-throwing protestors, resulting in two deaths and many injured.

The days that followed saw a new vigour in protest actions across the country. Robert Sobukwe and Philip Kgosana, founding members and leaders of the PAC, were arrested. Sobukwe was arrested in 1960, followed by Philip Kgosana on 30 March after being duped by the government that they will hear him out on the demands for the abolishment of the pass laws.

Funerals in Langa took place on 28 March and was attended by more than 50 000 people with the ANC’s President-General, Albert Luthuli declaring it a day of mourning. Further protest actions took on the form of ‘stay-aways,’ which resulted in knocks to the labour-driven apartheid economy.

Apartheid was characterised by systemic, institutionalised violence and human rights abuses and is recognised as a crime against humanity.

In our constitutional democracy today, we sometimes forget that under apartheid, we lived under legislated political oppression. We routinely suffered beatings and endured police and the army presence in the townships. Many were abducted —often without anyone knowing they were missing. The system was an affront to human dignity, enforcing racial segregation and entrenched discrimination based on appearance. The system was built on violence and torture, with sexual torture, rape and many other indignities inflicted upon us.

Celebrating Human Rights Day today signifies the absence of these violations. It means that we can expect to be treated with respect in our person, culture, and beliefs, and that our dignity will be preserved. Experiencing safety, respect, and freedom should always be our fundamental right. Human Rights Day is more than just another public holiday; it is a reminder of our past so that we never repeat it. 

By Anthea Flink