South Africa commemorates the 61st anniversary of the Sharpville Massacre, renamed Human Rights Day, on Monday – but many believe human right needs had been overshadowed by disappointments from the state.Human rights activists march against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide , 19 March 2021, across the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Braamfontein. The march, led by Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, coincides with Human Rights Month.
Political analysts and human rights advocates believe the recent police excesses in dealing with protesting students and incidents such as the Marikana massacre, the police killing of civil rights activist Andries Tatane and the death of little Michael Komape in a school pit latrine toilet, were among the low points in the new constitutional democracy order.
Kotze said the Saps training and policing in general were not geared towards respecting human rights. Instead, it was based on the use of violence. “Many police officers have grown up in the old culture – they learned it from the apartheid police and even the young recruits are trying to imitate their seniors who know only violence as the way to deal with protests,” Kotze said.
According to Priscilla Isaacs, DA MP and party spokesperson on education in the Northern Cape, the right to equalityIn her contribution to the Human Rights Day debate in the provincial legislature this week, Isaacs said people were often excluded from socioeconomic development based on their race, gender, or disability, among others.