Leaders from various political parties have been addressing the main Human Rights Day event at Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg.
Leaders from the Congress of the People (COPE), Azanian People’s Organisation Azapo, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) and the United Democratic Movement (UDM) are among those who have addressed the crowd of thousands of people so far.
President Jacob Zuma is due to give the keynote speech.
The event commemorates those who lost their lives when apartheid African police opened fire on demonstrators on 21 March 1960, as well as celebrating human rights in the new South Africa.
Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, of the African National Congress (ANC), was one of the first speakers.
“As a nation 20-years after our democracy in South Africa we can safely say that today is better than yesterday and we hope that our tomorrow will better than today,” she says.
Mokonyane says there is a need for all of us to say there is a good story to tell about the rights of human beings and citizens in South Africa.
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