South Africans should observe Human Rights Day as “a time to foster greater social cohesion, nation building and a shared national identity” countrywide, Cabinet said on Monday.
“It is our duty as a nation to strive for inclusive socio-economic development, while ensuring that we combat racism, racial discrimination and all related intolerance in the country,” Cabinet said.
Human Rights Day falls on every 21 March annually to commemorate the killing of 69 unarmed men and women in 1960 at Sharpeville police station for peacefully protesting against pass laws (internal passports), it said.
The event has become to be known as the Sharpeville Massacre, with the month of March designated as Human Rights Month as an opportunity to honour those who made it possible for the nation to achieve freedom and democracy, it added.
“This includes the courageous men and women who marched in Sharpeville on 21 March 1960 for the abolition of pass laws,” Cabinet added.
Apart from the 69 people who died on this day, some 180 others were wounded in a bloody event that left the country utterly shocked in the worst killings of the apartheid regime, according to press reports of the time.
Themed “The Year of Unity and Renewal: Protecting and Preserving our Human Rights Gains,” the highlight of the occasion was a keynote address by President Cyril Ramaphosa at an event held at Reagile Sports Ground in Koster in North West Province.
NM/jn/APA