Survivors of the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa have launched a legal battle to overturn an apartheid-era law that has prevented those responsible for the killings from being prosecuted.
Abraham Mofokeng, who was 20 when he joined the peaceful protest in 1960, is among those involved in the case. Now 86 years old, he still has a bullet lodged in his spine and walks with a limp after being shot in the leg.
The protest took place on March 21, 1960 in Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg, when thousands of black South Africans demonstrated against apartheid-era pass laws. Police opened fire on the crowd, killing at least 69 people and wounding more than 200.
Mofokeng said protesters had gathered because the passbook system severely restricted the movement and freedom of black people. The protesters planned to march to a police station and protest against the laws.
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He recalled that police were armed with rifles, machetes and shields before the situation escalated and officers began shooting at protesters.
Another survivor, Lazarus Magotsi, 90, said he watched from a store as people tried to flee the shooting. He told the BBC that police shot at some people who tried to get up from the ground.
More than 1,300 bullets are believed to have been fired into the crowd. Recent research by South African academics has suggested that the number of people killed could have been as high as 91.
The massacre became a major turning point in the fight against apartheid and exposed the violence of South Africa’s white minority government to the international community.
However, those responsible were never prosecuted. The apartheid government passed the Compensation Act 1961, which protected police and government officials from criminal charges and civil claims related to the massacre.
More than three decades after the end of apartheid and South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994, the law remains in force in the country’s statutes.
Human Rights Lawyers and UK-based law firm Leigh Day have brought a case to the High Court, arguing that the Compensation Act is unconstitutional under South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution.
Attorneys are also seeking certification for a class-action lawsuit, which could allow dozens of survivors and relatives of those killed to collectively sue the state. If successful, the case could also allow for criminal proceedings against alleged perpetrators who are still alive.
Survivors say they want compensation and other forms of reparation to help them cope with the long-term effects of the massacre.
The case comes after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established by Nelson Mandela’s government, investigated crimes committed during apartheid. Although the commission was widely praised for bringing together victims and perpetrators, it was criticized because many perpetrators were not jailed.
The South African government said it had supported victims of apartheid-era violence and would continue to do so. He said he was not opposed to survivors and their families seeking legal recourse.
The government also said that 560 victims recognized by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had received individual grants totaling about $31 million, although not all Sharpeville survivors and relatives had been identified.
For survivors like Mofokeng, repealing the old law could provide a chance for long-awaited justice and help heal the wounds left by the massacre.
“Apartheid is dead and buried,” he said, adding that a legal victory could bring healing not only to survivors but also to future generations.
(BBC News)
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