Various political parties, including the ANC, DA, ActionSA, the EFF and Rise Mzansi, commemorated Human Rights Day, with their individual gatherings around Sharpeville in honour of those who tragically lost their lives on this day in 1960.
The day is linked to the era of pass laws on March 21, 1960. The event occurred at the Sharpeville police station and resulted in the massacre of 69 people after police started firing on the protesting masses. Over 180 people were injured.
Abahlali Basejondolo, the community-based movement defending the rights of shack dwellers and the country’s poor, slammed the absence of dignity and human rights for the country’s poor who continue to live in abject poverty, after more than 30 years of democracy.
Abahlali Basemjondolo decried how the day had been reduced to an electioneering exercise by uncaring political leaders.
Mqapheli Bonono, one of the leaders of the movement, says in spite of the country being in the hands of a black government, the poor still remain poor while the rich are getting richer by the day as many South Africans continue to live in shacks and informal settlements.
“Those who live in shack settlements continue to be denied access to basic services such as water and sanitation. Violent evictions continue. Those in the rural areas continue to walk long distances to the nearest health facilities. Those who live on farms continue to be abused by farmers who see them as less than human.
“For almost 30 years, we have been treated as human waste and not as human beings. For as long as our dignity and our existence as humans is not recognised we will not be celebrating Human Rights day. For as long as rights on paper do not mean rights in reality we will not celebrate.
“Instead, we are mourning the betrayal of democracy by the ANC, a democracy that so many ordinary people fought so hard for,“ Bonono added.
He accused the ANC of using the day for its political campaign when it has failed to deliver basic services for the people.
“The ruling party will be using this holiday that is held on the anniversary of the massacres in Sharpeville and Langa in 1960 for its own electioneering. It will do so despite the fact that it perpetrated its own massacre in Marikana in 2012, and despite the fact that it has never acted to stop the assassinations of grassroots activists.
“It will do so despite the fact that the people of Sharpeville and Langa continue to live under inhuman conditions, like so many other poor people across the country,” he said.
Another leader, Thapelo Mohapi, said the poor marginalised remained poor, adding that unemployment, poverty and inequality were worse than at the end of apartheid and that there were more people living in shacks than in 1994.
“Those who live in shack settlements continue to be denied access to basic services such as water and sanitation. Violent evictions continue. Those in the rural areas continue to walk long distances to the nearest health facilities. Those who live in farms continue to be abused by farmers who see them as less than human,” he said.
Rise Mzansi leader, Songezo Zibi, who will be leading a gathering of his members in Sharpville later on Thursday, has accused the ANC of creating a human rights crisis in the country.
He said his party will be spending the day by reflecting on the country’s history and the need for new leaders who should protect, uphold, and advance human rights by building the South Africa we all deserve.
“The political establishment’s uncaring politicians have created a human rights crisis – families and their communities are without water; they go hungry at night; and there is no leadership – which is why we call for new leaders,” Zibi said. | Additional reporting by Sipho Jack
The Star