Survivors and relatives of those killed in the 1960 Sharpeville massacre have filed a case against South Africa’s government to overturn the 65‑year‑old Indemnity Act, which has blocked them from seeking compensation.
Lawyers for Human Rights, together with UK‑based firm Leigh Day, announced on Thursday that the victims are looking for reparations “to enable their healing.”
The lawyers are seeking to overturn legislation passed a year after the massacre that prohibited legal action by the survivors and the dependents of those killed.
“The plaintiffs will argue that the Indemnity Act should be struck from the statute book,” they said in a statement.
The law had effectively abolished all legal claims arising from the massacre and infringed the plaintiffs’ constitutional right to access courts, the statement said.
Passed in 1961, the Indemnity Act shielded police and the state from criminal or civil liability for the killings.
The Sharpeville massacre, one of the defining moments of the anti‑apartheid struggle, saw police open fire on thousands of peaceful demonstrators protesting pass laws.
Official records listed 69 dead and 180 wounded although later research suggests at least 91 were killed and more than 238 injured, many shot in the back while fleeing.
JN/APA