Remember Sharpeville

TOMORROW we will be commemorating Human Rights Day, once again remembering the gallant South Africans who were brutally killed at Sharpeville during a protest against pass laws.

On this day, March 21, 1960, apartheid police opened fire on a peaceful crowd that had gathered outside a police station in the township, killing 69 and wounding many others.

We honour this day as an affirmation of ordinary people rising in unison to proclaim their rights.

Thanks to the many who sacrificed their lives, today we have the Bill of Rights in our Constitution, which is a cornerstone of our constitutional and representative democracy.

So iconic is this day, which was a turning point in the long battle for human rights in South Africa, that former president Nelson Mandela remarked in 1996 in a statement that it “is a day which, more than many others, captures the essence of the struggle of the South African people and the soul of our non-racial democracy”.

Various political parties will be using tomorrow not only to remember the cost paid for our treasured human rights – but also to campaign for their political parties in the run-up to the May polls.

We should, as has happened in the past, brace ourselves for political mudslinging and all sorts of insults that parties will be hurling at one another.

The public spat between the Freedom Front Plus and the Black First Land First epitomises the state of political engagement in our country.

Increasingly, we are experiencing the rise of nationalist, right-wing politics, underscored by what these forces see as the battle between “us” and “them”.

The rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of gathering, freedom of movement – some of which people died for in 1960 – are being used by politicians to divide our nation on the basis of race, gender and religion, among others.

We will do well to commemorate this day by not only remembering the sacrifices of those who died for us to enjoy our human rights, but also remember Mandela’s words about what tomorrow means to the nation and its history.