The critical question, often ignored in the literature on the event is, "Why was it in Sharpeville as opposed to anywhere else in the Union that the PAC's campaign received its strongest response, a question that can only be answered by examining the local history that led up to the shootings" (Chaskalson, 1986). However, little of the literature focuses on background explanations as to how developments within Sharpeville led to the confrontation between police and anti-pass demonstrators on that fateful day. The pass laws remained until the fall of South African apartheid in 1986. The campaign of resistance to the pass laws ended in September. One of the younger officers panicked and opened fire on the crowd, and several others followed suit. Shortly after this, the United Nations General Assembly began to pressure the new government to put an end to apartheid. Pass laws in South Africa were met with fierce resistance during the 20th century. Sharpeville Massacre Marks Apartheid's Turning Point. Eric Naki. those found to be in Vereeniging illegally because they were not in formal employment, risked being forced back to the rural areas. One of the insights was that international law does not change, unless there is some trigger for countries to change their behaviour. Finally, the ejection of the unemployed considered in excess of the requirements of the town's labour needs had the potential to create dissent against the town council. Police arrested over 2,000 people. The Sharpeville Massacre occurred in a South Africa that denied the rights and freedoms of anyone who was not considered “white” under a system called “apartheid.”. Protest against these humiliating laws fueled the anti-apartheid struggle - from the Defiance Campaign (1952-54), the massive women's protest in Pretoria (1956), to burning of passes at the police station in Sharpeville where 69 protesters were massacred (1960). The Chief of Security promised to grant them an audience and the crowd dispersed, but there was no meeting. For example, Durban's Cato Manor, Cape Town's Langa and, until five years earlier, Johannesburg's Sophiatown were potentially hotbeds of dissent. These books had to contain stamps providing official proof that that the person in question had permission to be in a town at that time. Sharpville Massacre 1100 Words | 5 Pages. Pass laws required that Africans had to carry identity documents with them at all times. The ‘Dompas’, Pass Laws and the Sharpeville Massacre When the Nationalist Party came into power in South Africa in 1948, the government legalised segregation by enforcing a series of laws that gave them control over the movement of people of colour. After about two minutes, police had killed sixty-nine people and wounded 180 more. Therefore, the social and economic development of Vereeniging towards the end of the 1950s, particularly the administration of its African Township, is significant in the Vereeniging Town Council's role in the events of 21 March 1960. The Vereeniging Town Council decided to apply the 'Sophiatown solution' to Top Location. The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre was the result of a peaceful protest regarding racist South African policies of apartheid. A large gathering of local people demonstrating against the pass laws failed to obey orders to disperse. Transgressors of location regulations, i.e. Apartheid and the pass system. In his examination of circumstances leading to the massacre that takes into account local developments during the 1950s, Chaskalson argues that "throughout the 1950s Sharpeville was recognised across the country as the model African township, and the Council was able to censor almost all local African political activity" (Chaskalson, 1986). The role of the Vereeniging Town Council. Around 11:00 am the police started arresting the demonstrators. Pass laws required all black Africans to carry a small booklet containing personal information and a history of employment. On March 21, 1960, without warning, South African police at Sharpeville, an African township of Vereeninging, south of Johannesburg, shot into a crowd of about 5,000 unarmed anti-pass protesters, killing at least 69 people – many of them shot in the back – and wounding more than 200. Registered users can login to the website. Robert Sobukwe (PAC)and Chief Albert Luthuli. The peaceful protest at Sharpeville against the pass laws was organised by the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and met by … Civil disobedience of "illegitimate" laws, Opponent, Opponent Responses, and Violence, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International. It has come! Beyond this campaign the PAC and ANC continued to exist, but remained illegal, and most of their leaders were in prison. The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960, at the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in Transvaal (today part of Gauteng).. After a day of demonstrations against pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 protesters went to the police station.The South African Police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69 people and injuring 180 others. The party was devoted to apartheid and white supremacy, maintained through a collection of policies, including the pass laws. On 2 April, the New York Times estimated that 70,000 people were involved in these organizations. More proactive opposition to discrimination became necessary after the National Party (NP) came to power in 1948, and racial segregation and discrimination was intensified through the implementation of the policy of 'apartheid' or separate development. The despised pass laws were eventually repealed in 1986 under the leadership of the late state president Pieter Willem (PW) Botha. On 21st March 1960, a protest was organized by Robert Sobukwe and the PAC. Sharpeville massacre, (March 21, 1960), incident in the black township of Sharpeville, near Vereeniging, South Africa, in which police fired on a crowd of blacks, killing or wounding some 250 of them.It was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa.. The decision lies with the P.A.C. The Global Nonviolent Action Database is a project of Swarthmore College, including the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, the Peace Collection, and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. Download this stock image: The Sharpeville massacre, 21 March 1960, in the South African township of Sharpeville in Transvaal. These included protests by the African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) in 1950, and the women's march to the Union Buildings in August 1956, which is now commemorated each year as Women's Day. The Pan Africanist Congress will shortly launch a nationwide campaign for the total abolition of the pass laws. The Sharpeville incident was the largest single-day massacre in apartheid South Africa up until the Soweto Youth uprising and massacre on June 16, 1976. In this climate residents of Sharpeville did not hesitate to respond energetically when the march against passes was proposed in 1959. c) Were the child or wife of a man permitted to live in the urban area on the conditions of (a) or (b) mentioned above. Some accounts of the Sharpeville Massacre stated that a police officer was shoved, but taking into account the size of the crowd it is difficult to tell whether this was an accident or not. März 1960 zogen in Sharpeville zwischen 5.000 und 7.000 Schwarze gegen 10 Uhr ohne Pass auf ein Polizeirevier zu, um sich inhaftieren zu lassen, darunter hochrangige PAC-Funktionäre. These families settled in the only accommodation in the area offered to Africans, namely; Top Location, and later, Sharpeville. Am 21. Calls for Sharpeville Day Political parties commemorating the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in the Vaal have objected to the day being known as Human Rights day. Further campaigns were launched, implicitly or explicitly against apartheid. Over time, apartheid repression became even worse. In 1918 the workers' strike around the issue of passes took place, and pass-burning campaigns were organised in the 1930s by the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) and various trade unions. Sharpeville became famous in history for a violent collision, with loss of life, that occurred on March 21, 1960, between black protestors and members of the South African Police during a protest campaign against pass laws led by the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). In response to this growth and increased employment opportunities, thousands of African families from the immediate rural hinterland, dominated by White commercial agriculture, inevitably found their way into Vereeniging, Transvaal (now Gauteng). Sobukwe. A few hours later 300 police officers and 5,000 protesters had gathered at the scene. The reasons cited by many sources for this split are that the PAC advocated for approaches that were contrary to the non-racial orientation of the ANC and that members were frustrated by its moderation, expressed in the Freedom Charter in 1955. Even more important than strict policing, Sharpeville, like all other townships created by the NP government, was made to pay for the cost of its upkeep. The South African Police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69 people and injuring 180 others. Pass laws have been resisted in several significant instances. Pass laws required that Africans had to carry identity documents with them at all times.
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