South Africa's Sharpeville massacre survivors start legal fight for justice and compensation
Survivors of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre in South Africa are launching a legal challenge to overturn an indemnity law that protected perpetrators from prosecution. The case seeks justice and compensation for the victims of the apartheid-era police shooting.
Why it matters
This case highlights the ongoing struggle for historical accountability and redress for human rights abuses committed under the apartheid regime.
Share Save Add as preferred on Google Pumza Fihlani Sharpeville BBC Abraham Mofokeng was 20 when he joined a peaceful protest in Sharpeville Abraham Mofokeng still carries the wounds of the bloody suppression of a protest in South Africa 66 years ago. In what became known as the Sharpeville massacre, police infamously opened fire on thousands of peaceful demonstrators.
A bullet is still lodged in Mofokeng's spine, and he has a gentle limp from a gunshot to the leg.
"We weren't seen as people," the 86-year-old tells the BBC as he explains the reasons he joined the demonstration on 21 March 1960 against the repressive laws of the white-minority government.
"All you were good for was working. You couldn't question them, you were supposed to just do as you're told."
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