ON March 21, South Africa celebrates Human Rights Day, which is a public holiday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to deliver the keynote address at the commemoration of Human Rights Day on Saturday, March 21, at the AR Abass Stadium in Kimberley.

The holiday, which has been celebrated since 1995, coincides with the anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, which occurred on the day in 1960.

The massacre occurred when protesters gathered outside the police station at Sharpeville, who were protesting against the then Apartheid Pass Laws, and were brutally gunned down by the police.

The massacre of those protesters and the other countless unjust acts perpetrated during apartheid inspired South Africa’s Bill of Rights, a part of the country’s Constitution which entitles all South Africans, regardless of race, gender, or age, to basic and fundamental rights.

The Bill of Rights protects:

• Freedom of expression
• Freedom of religion
• Freedom of the media
• Freedom of assembly
• Freedom of thought and opinion
• Political rights (to vote and stand for office)

2026 also marks the 30-year anniversary of the country’s Constitution.

Also read: South Africans turn to illegal lenders as financial pressure mounts

During Human Rights Month, other apartheid era atrocities which inspired the Bill of Rights were observed.

These include the Boipatong Massacre on June 17, 1992, when an attack on township residents was carried out by armed men from the steelworks residence, KwaMadala Hostel, located close to the township.

Another apartheid era massacre was the Bantu Square Massacre on November 9, 1952, when police killed an estimated eight to over 200 people in East London during the Defiance Campaign.

The Defiance Campaign was launched with the aim of overturning apartheid laws.

Another tragic human rights violation event was the Bisho Massacre on September 7, 1992, when 29 people were killed by the then Ciskei  Defence Force during a protest march, when the protesters attempted to enter Bisho (now named Bhisho) to demand the reincorporation of Ciskei, a then Bantustan in the Eastern Cape,  into South Africa.

The massacres cited above are among other innumerable acts of violence during apartheid which are the bedrock for the country’s Human Rights Month.

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