Sharpeville massacre, 66 years on: Families still wait for justice | News
Sharpeville, South Africa – Paulina Mathinye was just five years old when her father left their home on March 21, 1960, for a meeting near the police station in Sharpeville, a township located south of Johannesburg. She vividly recalls waiting for him to return, hoping for the embrace that was customary between fathers and their daughters.
Tragically, he never came back.
On that fateful day, Mathinye’s father participated in a gathering of community members protesting apartheid’s oppressive pass laws, which mandated that Black South Africans carry identification that restricted their movement and livelihood. Amid the protest, police opened fire on the assembled crowd, an incident now recognized as the Sharpeville Massacre.
According to records from the apartheid era, the confirmed death toll was 69, with an additional 180 individuals injured. However, recent research suggests a higher count, indicating that up to 91 people may have lost their lives and 238 were wounded. These findings are supported by legal representatives for the survivors and the families of those affected.
The Sharpeville Massacre marked a pivotal moment in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement. March 21 is now observed as Human Rights Day, and in 1996, the nation’s Constitution was signed in Sharpeville. Yet, for the families of those who were killed or injured that day, the fallout continued long after the event.
More than 60 years later, survivors and their families are pursuing justice through the courts. Lawyers for Human Rights have submitted an application to the Gauteng High Court, challenging the Indemnity Act No. 61 of 1961, which the plaintiffs claim has thwarted attempts by survivors and dependents of the deceased to seek civil and criminal justice related to the massacre. Additionally, they are requesting certification for a class action lawsuit to include those who were shot and the relatives of those who were killed.
For Mathinye, the legal proceedings are deeply intertwined with the life she has lived since her father’s death. As the primary breadwinner, his absence forced her mother to work as a domestic worker to support five children. Mathinye recalls times when their family went hungry, facing nights with empty stomachs and studying by inadequate light.
“I sometimes think about what I could have become if my father had not been shot,” she said, reflecting on her dreams of becoming a teacher.
Charne Tracey-Mamdoo, a lawyer with Lawyers for Human Rights, noted that families attempted to seek redress in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, but were met with obstacles due to the implementation of the Indemnity Act. The current legal action aims to dismantle this barrier.
The urgency of the case is heightened by the ages of the survivors. Many have spent decades seeking justice and some have died without resolution.
Ishmael Poho, another survivor, was six years old when he last saw his father leave for a meeting, only to learn days later of his death. His mother endured a challenging journey to identify his body among the deceased, which she eventually found in a police garage. Poho, now 72, reflects on how his father’s death drastically altered the family’s trajectory.
“Had my father been alive, my life would have been different,” Poho said.
For families like Poho’s and Mathinye’s, the search for justice continues. Maine recalls the loss of her uncle, a breadwinner whose death forced her family into financial hardship. At 62, she has taken up the torch, striving for recognition and reparations.
Lawyers for Human Rights also seek to address broader systemic issues, advocating for discussions with the South African government regarding reparations and recognition. The ongoing court case, however, specifically targets the constitutionality of the Indemnity Act.
As South African society commemorates the Sharpeville Massacre each year, survivors and their families press for justice they believe has been long denied. The legal proceedings have yet to set a timeline or resolution, but advocates are determined to ensure that the stories and struggles of those affected do not fade into history.
Mathinye continues to seek answers to the question that has haunted her since childhood: “Why did they shoot my father?”
