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- The Right2Know campaign says police killing of protesters continues 61 years after the fatal shooting of 69 people in Sharpeville.
- R2K says the government has used the Covid-19 blocking regulations to suppress protests and political gatherings, adding that this violated the right to protest.
- South Africa celebrates Human Rights Day, formerly known as Sharpeville Day, on March 21.
On the occasion of Human Rights Day on Sunday, says the Right2Know (R2K) Campaign, 61 years after the Sharpeville Massacre, South African police violence against protesters has yet to be adequately addressed.
R2K said the nation was recovering from the death of Mthokozisi Ntumba, who was shot dead by police during protests by students at Wits University.
Ntumba, a civil servant, had just left a doctor’s office when he was shot at point-blank range.
“Six decades after the Sharpeville massacre, discourse on police brutality has yet to take center stage in South Africa. The outrage is short-lived, we soon find ways to blame protesters, we criminalize protesters, innocent citizens continue to die in in the hands of the police and no one is held accountable.
“Police continue to kill with impunity, just as they did in Sharpeville 61 years ago,” the organization said in a statement Sunday.
READ | Four policemen arrested in connection with the death of Mthokozisi Ntumba
The government was using the Covid-19 blocking regulations to curb protests and suppress dissent, R2K added.
“As soon as the regulations were relaxed, other meetings were allowed, except for political meetings. We firmly believe that this is an attack on our constitutional right to protest.
“The right to protest is fundamental to the proper functioning of a democracy and the ability of ordinary people to demand accountability and justice.
“The government is manipulating the Covid-19 pandemic to find reasons to shut down protests and make it even more difficult for activists to organize and participate in protests legally.”
READ ALSO | Mthokozisi Ntumba: the city of Tshwane remembers the ‘dedicated and passionate’ urban planner
South Africa celebrates Human Rights Day on March 21.
The apartheid government killed 69 people that day in 1960 during a peaceful protest in Sharpeville against the pass laws.
At least 109 people were injured, many of them shot in the back while fleeing the police.
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