MORE than 50 years after the event, the very name Sharpeville still remains inextricably associated with the mass murder perpetrated in that Transvaal township on March 21 1960.

The official inquiry into the massacre – in which 69 died and 180 were injured – laid the blame on rookie constables opening fire on an unarmed crowd protesting against the pass laws, without the say so of their superiors.

Indeed, the commanding officer of the police reinforcements had his own ideas as to where moral responsibility should be placed: ‘The native mentality does not allow them to gather for a peaceful demonstration,’ he argued in his statement. ‘For them to gather means violence.’ Continue reading →