Sharpeville Day was a turning point: PAC

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The Secretary-General of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, Apa Pooe, has described Sharpeville Day as a turning point in South Africa’s history. The PAC is commemorating the massacre that happened in 1960 when apartheid police shot and killed 69 protesters who were marching peacefully against discriminatory pass laws.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will later this morning deliver the keynote address at the national commemoration of Human Rights Day in Sharpeville outside Johannesburg.

Pooe who was speaking at the Philandaba Cemetery in Sharpville, says the massacre will never be forgotten.

“Sharpeville Day, the Sharpeville massacre was a turning point in the history of the liberation of this country. It was as a result of Sharpeville Day that we had many political parties being banned. It was as a result of Sharpeville Day that many of our leaders went to prison. It was as a result of Sharpeville Day that the United Nations had to sit and declare apartheid as a crime against humanity. It was as a result of this day that apartheid was recognized as something that needs to be fought with all the might.”

Below is PAC Secretary-General Apa Pooe’s full interview with SABC News: