Decades after apartheid, South Africans seek justice for crimes of the past
Families of victims from the 1960 Sharpeville massacre are pursuing a class action lawsuit to seek justice and reparations for apartheid-era crimes. The legal challenge aims to overcome lingering apartheid-era laws that continue to obstruct accountability for historical state violence.
Why it matters
This case highlights the ongoing struggle for transitional justice and the long-term impact of systemic human rights abuses in post-apartheid South Africa.
SHARPEVILLE, South Africa – Paulina Mathinye gestures with anguish at the rows of garbage-strewn graves, overrun with weeds, in the cemetery where her father is buried.
"Look at that, where they sleep," she says of the dozens of Black protesters buried here, all of whom were killed when police opened fire on March 21, 1960 in what became one of the bloodiest days in apartheid history.
"Why are they dirty? It's a disgrace," says the 71-year-old grandmother, who wears a floral dress and a smart sunhat.
The cemetery, like much else in this visibly poor township about an hour's drive from Johannesburg, has been left to decay. But Mathinye notes that for one day a year at least, when South Africa's political elite descend to commemorate the massacre, the graveyard is spotless. The anniversary is a public holiday known as Human Rights Day.
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