EFF observes Sharpeville Massacre Day
21 March 2021
The EFF observes the 21. of March 2021 as Sharpeville Massacre Day, on which hundreds of African people marched against the Apartheid government against the racist pass laws which regulated the movement of black people in their own land.
It was on this day in 1960, when the regime of terror massacred 69 people, and injured hundreds more, who defiantly stood against the government of the day led by the gallant PanAfricanist Robert Sobukwe, flooding the prisons of South Africa.
This day which the so-called former liberation movement seeks to numb down, as is the case with all days that expose the brutality of our history and that of the oppression of black people, must be remembered as a day of defiance against police brutality and repression.
Asa nation, we must reflect on the progress made since that dark occasion, and the conditions that define the life of the black majority. It is more poignant to note that it is 25-year anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of South Africa, a document heralded across the world as the most progressive yet it governs one of the most unequal societies in the world.
As the EFF, we observe that the conditions of black people have not changed materially since the dark days of Apartheid. The economy remains the hands of the few, who are white people, while black people remain languishing in poverty and under-development.
Black people remain in shacks living on top of one another, unemployed and subject to crime, hunger and indignity existing as servants of a white minority. It is black people who are massacred by police in townships, suburbs and university, in the same way that Africans who stood against pass laws were massacred.
Since the dawn of the democratic dispensation, the ruling party has replaced the racist regime of Pretoria, and persisted in delivering death to those who dare to stand up for their rights. From AndriesTatane, the miners of Marikana who were mercilessly slain and the Fees Must
Fall generation, the ruling party continues to show its intolerance and brutality, proving that the life of a black child is cheap and disposable.
In all metrics, being black in South Africa is outside the realm of humanity and the colour of the skin of black people is unconstitutional and criminal.
It is for this reason that the EFF reaffirms its commitment to the amendment of Section of 25 of the constitution, to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation. It is only through this mechanism that black people will have humanity, and honour the generation of Robert Sobukwe, who championed the rights of free movement of Africans In their own land.
It is only through the amendment of the constitution, that black people will not enter suburbs of this country as servants, or be criminalized for being in places that are silently reserved for white people as a result of their wealth.
It must further be emphasised that amending the constitution is the highest form of constitutionalism, as the constitution with all of its flaws, allows for changes to be made to it to address the social and economic challenges of the nation.
The EFF calls for our constitution to respond directly to the ills of black people in South Africa, drawing inspiration from the revolutionary constitution of Haiti.
Our constitution must assume a Pan-Africanist character, affording human rights to all black people of the world, making South Africa a haven for all oppressed people. It is the black people of Haiti who championed human rights as slaves, advocating for self-determination against the brutality of white supremacy.
As descendants of centuries of defiance, the EFF commits itself to constitutionalism that is in service of Africans, in memory of the slain activists of Sharpeville. May we never live in fear of police brutality and state-sponsored violence, when defending our rights.
Issued by Vuyani Pambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 21 March 2021
