Decades after apartheid, South Africans seek justice for crimes of the past
SHARPEVILLE, South Africa –
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Africans → seek → past
Paulina Mathinye gestures with anguish at the rows of garbage-strewn graves, overrun with weeds, in the cemetery where her father is buried.
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father → gesture → cemetery
"Look at that, where they sleep," she says of the dozens of Black protesters buried here, all of whom were killed when police opened fire on March 21, 1960 in what became one of the bloodiest days in apartheid history.
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what → look → history
It's a disgrace," says the 71-year-old grandmother, who wears a floral dress and a smart sunhat.
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who → say → dress
The cemetery, like much else in this visibly poor township about an hour's drive from Johannesburg, has been left to decay.
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cemetery → leave → Johannesburg
But Mathinye notes that for one day a year at least, when South Africa's political elite descend to commemorate the massacre, the graveyard is spotless.
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graveyard → note → massacre
The anniversary is a public holiday known as Human Rights Day.
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anniversary → know → Day
My anger comes out because that's the day my father was shot," says Mathinye, who was just five years old at the time.
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who → come → time
She says her father's part in what became a turning point in the struggle against apartheid has not been sufficiently recognized by the current democratic government.
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what → say → government
And she says she wants justice – however delayed.
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justice → say → ?
That's why she's signed up to take part in a potential class action lawsuit 66 years later, along with Sharpeville survivors and the families of Sharpeville victims.
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she → sign → victims
At least 69 people were shot by police that day.
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people → shoot → police
They had been demonstrating against the country's pass laws – which restricted black people's movements and where they could live and work.
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they → demonstrate → movements
While it's unclear if any perpetrators are still alive, those taking part in the case hope it could lead to reparations.
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it → take → reparations
But first, the group's lawyers must challenge an apartheid-era law that continues to block their efforts to seek legal redress.
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that → challenge → redress
The law remains in force decades after apartheid ended and a Black-majority government took power.
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government → remain → power
In September they filed an application in the Gauteng High Court challenging the continued existence of the Indemnity Act 61 of 1961.
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they → file → 1961
If the court finds the law unconstitutional, and also certifies a class action for survivors and dependants of those killed, then claims for individual damages could follow.
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claims → find → damages
Mathinye says the repercussions of that day in 1960 have affected her whole life.
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repercussions → say → life
Without her father, the main breadwinner, she couldn't finish school.
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she → finish → school
That, in turn, affected the lives of her children and grandchildren.
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That → affect → children
"So we struggled a lot.
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we → struggle → ?
And we are still struggling now, because nothing has been happening," she told NPR.
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she → struggle → NPR
If the case goes ahead and succeeds, Paulina says she'll use any money from reparations to fix up her modest home and pay for her four grandkids' educations.
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she → go → educations
Part of a wider trend
The Sharpeville case is just one in a new wave of legal efforts that are seeking truth, accountability and reparations for apartheid-era crimes before it's too late.
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it → seek → crimes
"It's crucial that these issues of deep injustice are properly dealt with and that South Africa confronts them and does not sweep them under the carpet," says Daniel Leader, an international human rights lawyer advising the South African legal team representing the Sharpeville survivors and families.
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Leader → deal → survivors
Other cases include a court ruling last year that found South Africa's first Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Chief Albert Luthuli, was beaten to death by apartheid police in 1967.
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laureate → include → 1967
Luthuli, the former leader of the African National Congress — Nelson Mandela's party — had previously been ruled to have died after being struck by a train.
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Luthuli → rule → train
The new ruling overturned the finding of an earlier inquest.
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ruling → overturn → inquest
The inquest into the 1985 killings of four anti-apartheid activists known as the "Cradock Four" has also been reopened.
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inquest → know → Four
The activists were abducted and killed by apartheid security forces near the Eastern Cape town of Cradock.
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activists → abduct → Cradock
Although the officers involved are all dead, the victims families hope the inquest will establish who ordered the killings.
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who → involve → killings
And the inquest into the torture and death of Steve Biko, the iconic Black Consciousness leader who died in police detention in 1977, has also returned to court.
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who → die → court
"It's very clear that the murder of Steve Biko was exactly that, murder," Biko's son Nkosinathi told media in September at the reopened inquest.
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son → tell → inquest
"We hope that this inquest will eventually get to this very certain, unambiguous finding."
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inquest → hope → finding
The original inquest in 1977 heard from members of the security branch who said Biko had fallen and hit his head in a "scuffle with security police."
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Biko → hear → police
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a court-like restorative justice body set up in the 1990s to uncover the truth about human rights violations during apartheid, re-
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Commission → set → apartheid
It denied amnesty to security officers who testified, saying they hadn't been truthful.
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they → deny → officers
That essentially cleared the way for possible prosecutions, but they never happened.
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they → clear → prosecutions
In fact, hundreds of the TRC's recommendations for prosecutions were delayed or never pursued.
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hundreds → delay → prosecutions
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
