Deputy President Paul Mashatile said Human Rights Day is an emotional time for the families of the victims who were gunned down during the Langa massacre in Kariega, Eastern Cape. Mashatile gave a keynote address at the Human Rights Commemorations held in Kariega today.

SCARS OF THE PAST

Addressing the scores of commemorators, Mashatile said, Today is Human Rights Day, and we are commemorating the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, in which apartheid police killed 69 peaceful protesters protesting apartheid-era laws, as well as honouring the struggle for freedom and democracy. Years later, in what was formerly known as Uitenhage and is now Kariega, the Langa Massacre occurred on 21 March 1985, resulting in the indiscriminate killing of 20 people who were fighting for justice against the oppressive regime." Mashatile said the Sharpeville and the Langa massacres both clearly illustrate the grave human rights violations by the then-apartheid government.

FAMILIES NOT ABONDONED

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane said that they have not abandoned the families of those who were killed in the Langa Massacre. Mabuyane said they are working with a foundation, which was established to promote reconciliation and healing to the affected families. "We are working with families, and the foundation here has been coordinating about the issues with families, and I have said there are a number of massacres in our province of the struggle, so whatever we do here, we do in other places as well. So we are trying to find a common and comprehensive strategy to relieve such kinds of people."