Sharpeville massacre, 66 years on: Families still wait for justice

On March 21, 1960, police opened fire on people protesting apartheid pass laws in Sharpeville. The shootings left scores dead and many more wounded; contemporary apartheid records put the death toll at 69 and the injured at 180, while research published in 2024 using police records suggests as many as 91 people may have been killed and 238 injured. The massacre became a pivotal moment in South Africa’s struggle against apartheid and is now commemorated as Human Rights Day; South Africa’s Constitution was signed in Sharpeville in 1996.

More than six decades later, survivors and relatives of those killed and wounded have returned to court. Lawyers for Human Rights has applied to the Gauteng High Court to declare Indemnity Act 61 of 1961 unconstitutional and invalid; the applicants say the apartheid-era law blocked civil and criminal proceedings arising from the massacre. The legal team is also seeking certification of a class action on behalf of survivors who were shot and dependants of the people killed.

The litigation follows long-running efforts by victims and families to secure redress. Lawyers for Human Rights says it has spent years locating surviving victims and witnesses, reconstructing claims and assembling historical and expert evidence. More than 70 survivors and relatives have supported or shown interest in the proposed class action. Applicants and their lawyers say the matter has urgency because many of those directly affected are elderly and some who pursued remedies for decades died without resolution.

Survivors and dependants describe lasting economic and social consequences from the loss of breadwinners and the trauma of the massacre. Personal accounts in the record recount childhoods transformed by hardship, lost educational opportunities and long-term financial strain. If the High Court grants the constitutional relief and certifies the class, individual claims for damages could then be pursued in court — a potential legal pathway to compensation and accountability that was effectively closed by the Indemnity Act for decades.