----- Original Message -----
From: Ossia, Felix <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2000 3:29 PM
Subject: S. Africans Honor Massacre Victims


> S. Africans Honor Massacre Victims
> By ANDREW SELSKY, Associated Press Writer
> JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- South Africans unveiled simple stone
> memorials and held concerts Tuesday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of
a
> massacre that brought the country's black rights movement to the world's
> attention.
> Yet, even as weeds grow over the graves of the 69 blacks shot dead by
police
> in Sharpeville for peacefully protesting apartheid laws, the country's
> leaders said the fight for equal rights is not over.
> ''South Africa's terrible legacy of racism, inequality and poverty has
been
> so deeply embedded ... that despite the corrective measures we have put in
> place, the vast majority of South Africans do not as yet enjoy ... rights
> and freedoms,'' said Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
> With a vastly disproportionate share of the country's wealth still held by
> whites and more than 40 percent of blacks unemployed, South Africa's
> government must continue to enforce affirmative action programs to right
the
> imbalance, Zuma said in a speech marking the March 21, 1960, massacre.
> The massacre, a turning point in the anti-apartheid struggle, drew world
> condemnation of the white-led government's ruthless treatment of South
> Africa's disenfranchised black majority and led the government to outlaw
the
> African National Congress.
> The Sharpeville protest against laws that restricted where blacks could
live
> had been organized by the Pan Africanist Congress, then a powerful
> challenger to the ANC. In the 1999 elections, the PAC won only 1 percent
of
> the vote, compared to the ANC's 62 percent.
> At a ceremony Tuesday in Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg, Pan
Africanist
> Congress leader Stanley Mogoba expressed resentment that his group's role
> has been overlooked. He slammed the ANC-led government for renaming
> ''Sharpeville Day'' to ''Human Rights Day,'' and said a monument must be
> built in the victims' honor, the South African Press Association said.
> Mogoba also reprimanded residents for not looking after the victims'
graves,
> many of which were overgrown with grass and weeds. Community members then
> began clearing some graves, delaying the speeches.
> In Cape Town, stone memorials to victims of two apartheid-era police
> shootings were unveiled by Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo and Cabinet ministers.
> The memorials were erected in honor of the Guguletu Seven, a group of
> activists killed by police in 1986, and three youths shot dead in 1985 by
> police concealed in a railway freight car. Police claimed the youths were
> part of a group throwing stones.
> Transportation Minister Dullah Omar said the three youths were murdered by
a
> terrorist state, but noted that South Africa is still plagued by violence.
> The country has among the world's highest rates of murder and rape.
> ''We must leave having decided we are going to do our bit to eliminate
that
> violence,'' Omar said.
> At St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, Mfeketo told a service that racism
> remained a problem in South Africa, but expressed hope the country would
> continue to work toward reconciliation.
> ''Everyday interaction with one another will make us rise above racism and
> build a better life for all,'' she said.
>  AP-NY-03-21-00 1412EST<
>

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