Human Rights Day

Today is Human Rights Day in South Africa.

The Native Laws Amendment Act of 1952 extended Government control over the movement of Africans to urban areas and abolished the use of the Pass Book (a document which Africans were required to carry on them to ‘prove’ that they were allowed to enter a ‘white area’) in favour of a reference book which had to be carried at all times by all Africans. Failure to produce the reference book on demand by the police, was a punishable offence. The PAC proposed an anti-Pass campaign to start on 21 March 1960. All African men were to take part in the campaign without their passes and present themselves for arrest. Campaigners gathered at police stations in townships near Johannesburg where they were dispersed by police. At the Sharpeville police station a scuffle broke out. Part of a wire fence was trampled, allowing the crowd to move forward. The police opened fire, apparently without having been given a prior order to do so. Sixty-nine people were killed and 180 wounded.

Sharpeville inexorably led the ANC to form the armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe which spearheaded the armed liberation struggle by channelling the nation's anger into acts of sabotage designed to make the country ungovernable and to compel the government towards the path of negotiations. (Further reading: Comparing the ANC to Hamas.) This played a significant role in freeing South Africa from real Apartheid.

Once again I will turn to Nelson Mandela for some wisdom about freedom and leadership.

There is a heavy responsibility for a leader elected unopposed. He may use that powerful position to settle scores with his detractors, to marginalise marginalize them and, in certain cases, get rid of them and surround himself with yes men and women. His first duty is to allay the concerns of his colleagues to enable them to discuss freely without fear within internal structures. (Neslon Mandela in his last speech as ANC president in 1997)

Unfortunately, on the eve of Human Rights Day, the SA government supported a tyrant elected virtually unopposed, by blaming the MDC for the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Comments

[Steve Hayes]

Thanks very much for your comments on my Human Rights Day post. I'm glad to see someone else had the idea of blogging about it!

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