Survivors of the Sharpeville massacre and relatives of those killed have launched a legal challenge seeking to overturn an apartheid-era law that has prevented prosecutions and civil claims over the police shooting of protesters on 21 March 1960.
Lawyers for Human Rights and the British law firm Leigh Day announced on Thursday that they had filed the challenge before the High Court. The case argues that the 1961 Indemnity Act is unconstitutional under South Africa's constitution, which entered into force after the end of apartheid in 1994.
At least 69 protesters were shot dead by police during the peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville against racist pass laws. More than 200 people were injured. It is thought that more than 1,300 bullets were fired into the crowd, while recent estimates by South African researchers have put the number of deaths as high as 91.
The protesters were opposing rules that forced Black people to carry a passbook, known in Afrikaans as a 'dompas', restricting their freedom to move around the country. A year after the killings, the apartheid government passed the Indemnity Act, shielding the police and government from criminal and civil liability for acts committed between March 1960 and July 1961.
No police officer has ever been prosecuted for the Sharpeville killings. The only legal case that followed was an unsuccessful effort to charge the protesters with affray. No person was imprisoned for their actions, and no police officer involved in the shooting sought amnesty from South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The commission was established by Nelson Mandela's government to investigate crimes committed during apartheid. The indemnity law continued to protect those involved in Sharpeville after apartheid ended, leaving survivors and bereaved families without a criminal prosecution or civil claim against the state.
The new petition asks the court to authorise a class action lawsuit. If it is approved, dozens of victims and relatives of those killed would be able to bring a collective action against the state for the first time. The claim also seeks a declaration that the indemnity law is unconstitutional, damages and community reparations.
Criminal prosecutions could follow against alleged perpetrators if any are still alive. Their identities and current status are unknown, and the court has yet to decide whether it will grant class certification or strike down the law.
About 70 survivors and relatives are part of the proposed class action, including Abraham Mofokeng and Lazarus Magotsi. Mofokeng was 20 years old when he joined the protest on 21 March 1960. He still has a bullet lodged in his spine and walks with a limp after being shot in the leg.
Magotsi is now 90 years old. Their participation underscores the time that has passed since the shootings and the practical limits facing any attempt to establish individual responsibility for events that occurred 66 years ago.
Sharpeville's memorial park, the Human Rights Precinct, has 69 white pillars, one for each life lost. Most of those who died are buried in a cemetery that includes a 12-year-old among the dead.
The court challenge focuses on a basic question left unresolved since the democratic constitution took effect: whether a law enacted by the apartheid government can continue to block people from seeking accountability for the Sharpeville shootings. It also seeks to establish whether survivors and families can obtain recognition through collective legal action, alongside any damages and reparations the court may permit.
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