President Jacob Zuma will tomorrow deliver a keynote address at the National Human Rights Day celebrations in Kliptown, Soweto.
March 21 is a National Day and a Public Holiday in which South Africans celebrate their country’s rich human rights tradition.
This year the celebrations will be held in Kliptown, Soweto, the place where the biggest gathering of all South Africans before 1994 took place. The gathering brought together people from diverse backgrounds, from all corners of the country, rich and poor, young and old, where they signed the Freedom Charter, proclaiming that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white”.
The Constitution that all South Africans celebrate and the rights it guarantees, has its basis in Kliptown where the Freedom Charter was signed.
On this day South Africa also remembers the horrific events of the 21st of March 1960, when 69 people were mercilessly killed and scores were injured, as police opened fire on demonstrators who were protesting against the pass laws in Sharpeville. The police also attacked protesters in Vanderbiljpark and kwaLanga in Cape Town on the same day.
Post-apartheid South Africa celebrates this day as the National Human Rights Day.
Details of the commemoration are as follows:
Date: Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Time: 9h00
Venue: Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication, Kliptown, Soweto
Enquiries:
Mac Maharaj
Cell: 079 879 3203
