Sharpeville massacre

The Sharpeville massacre took place on 21 March 1960, when South African police fired on a crowd protesting against the pass laws outside the police station in Sharpeville, a township in what was then the Transvaal. Later research puts the toll at no fewer than 91 dead and 238 wounded. The shooting became a turning point in the struggle against apartheid and drew condemnation from around the world.

For generations, South African governments had tried to control the movement of Black Africans into the cities. Under the National Party government of the 1950s, Africans over the age of sixteen in urban areas had to carry a passbook recording their identity, employer, address and permission to be in the area. Police could demand to see it at any time. In 1959 and 1960 the government of Hendrik Verwoerd extended the requirement to women.

Sharpeville itself had been laid out in 1943, and residents of the overcrowded township of Topville were moved there from 1958. It suffered from high unemployment and crime, and its new police station was active in checking passes and raiding unlicensed drinking houses.

The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), led by Robert Sobukwe, called on Africans to leave their passbooks at home on 21 March and present themselves at police stations to be arrested. In Sharpeville a crowd of around 5,000 gathered at the station that morning; some estimates say it later grew to about 20,000. Most came willingly, though there is evidence that PAC activists also used pressure, such as cutting telephone lines and stopping buses, to keep people from going to work.

Witnesses, including the photographer Ian Berry, described the mood as largely peaceful, although some press reports called it hostile. Police reinforcements arrived with armoured vehicles, and military aircraft flew low over the crowd to try to scatter it. Some stones were thrown. There is no evidence that anyone in the crowd carried firearms.

Shortly after one o'clock, officers moved to detain a demonstrator and the crowd surged forward. At about 1.30 pm officers opened fire without ordering the crowd to disperse, firing 1,344 rounds in under two minutes. Many victims were hit in the back as they ran. Police records at the time gave 69 dead and 180 injured, figures later shown to be too low.

Police reports in 1960 blamed young, inexperienced officers who had panicked. The commanding officer denied giving an order to fire. In 1998, however, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the evidence showed some deliberation in the decision to shoot, and described the killings as gross human rights violations involving excessive force against unarmed people.

Protests, strikes and riots followed across the country. A state of emergency was proclaimed on 30 March, and the authorities detained more than 18,000 people, among them Nelson Mandela. The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 134 on 1 April 1960. The PAC and the African National Congress were banned, and both soon formed armed wings, abandoning a purely non-violent strategy. International isolation grew, and the episode contributed to South Africa leaving the Commonwealth in 1961. Resistance continued, later including the Soweto uprising in later years.

Since 1994, 21 March has been Human Rights Day in South Africa, and the United Nations marks it as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Mandela signed the country's new constitution into law at Sharpeville on 10 December 1996, and a memorial opened there in 2002. In 2024 the site became part of a World Heritage listing of places linked to Mandela's legacy.

Our 1960 map shows the Union of South Africa as it was in the year of the massacre, a year before it left the Commonwealth.