South Africans commemorate Human Rights Day on Tuesday. This day is historically linked to the events of Sharpeville, March 21, 1960, where 69 people died and 180 were wounded when police fired on a crowd that had gathered in protest against the Pass laws.
In this Human Rights Day podcast, SABC News producer, Lebo Tshangela, speaks to Human Rights Lawyer Nomzamo Zondo, Walter Rodney Library’s Phethani Madzivhandila and Social Justice activist Nontando Zintle Ngamlana about how corruption erodes human rights.
Zondo says there isn’t a buy-in across government on the need to ensure the enjoyment of human rights, this means that there isn’t an intention to make sure that you protect the rights of individuals.
Madzivhandila says, “We cannot speak about the questions of addressing human rights without addressing the basic questions that had informed the struggle against apartheid.”
“South Africa works very well, but doesn’t work well for the poor…but often learners we speak to say, ‘Whose human right?’ because often they don’t experience it protecting them,” Ngamlana adds.
Below is the full podcast:
