In a quest to rewrite history books and “set the record straight” about the events of March 1960, scores of Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) members, residents and church leaders held a peaceful march on Thursday 30 Mach.
The walk was organised in partnership with the Langa Centennial Planning Committee (LCPC) – a structure set up to coordinate Langa’s 100th anniversary.
The walk was designed to highlight the role Langa played in the fight for liberation and to recognise some individuals and families whose lives were affected by the 1960 protest.
It was also organised to seek the government’s recognition for the Langa victims.
Thursday’s walk began at the corner of Bhunga Drive and King Langalibalele Road and ended at the monument next to the Langa taxi rank.
Speakers lambasted the government for marginalising PAC leaders who played a role in the fight for liberation, especially those who contributed to the 1960 activities.
While they demanded that the Langa protest be given the same prominence as the Sharpville massacre, they appealed for clear lines to be drawn between the events.
While the Sharpville massacre happened on March 21, the Langa protest took place on March 30.
According to the website South African History Online (sahistory.org.za), the march of between 30 000 and 50 000 people to the police headquarters in Caledon Square was led by Philip Kgosana.
They protested without their passes in defiance of the pass-laws. On the same day, the government responded by declaring a state of emergency and banning all public gatherings. Thousands of people were arrested.
However, protests continued and nearly 10 days later, the death toll had risen to 83.
According to the LCPC, these statistics have been pushed under the carpet. They are now demanding some recognition.
Nomthunzi Jacobs, the LCPC member, described Thursday’s event as a way of celebrating the milestone. She said Langa has a rich history that is unknown to many.
Jacobs said it was vital that they write their history, not the other way around.
PAC political commissar Mzimasi Sibeko elaborated on how Langa was established and the difficulties that black people lived under during the apartheid. He stated that the apartheid regime had no mercy for black people. He stated that the black community was still wounded by what the minority government did. “They used dompas to identify and enslave us. You wouldn’t go on the street without a dompas. White people didn’t care about who you were. All they cared about was a dompas. They wanted to know if you had your dompas or not,” said Sibeko.
He stated that white people used dompas to regulate or control black.
“Black people were seen as hard labours. They worked in farms and mines, as garden boys or kitchen girls. Many people disappeared till today and others’ rights were violated by whites,” he explained.
He said the founder of PAC Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe dedicated his life to liberating black people. “Sobukwe had no bodyguards, no army and no money. But he had courage. He believes in the righteousness of the course to the liberation of Africa. Sibeko urged people to unite and fight for their rights.
One of the Langa Massacre victim’s family members Themba Jack said his elder brother Luyanda Jack nearly died after he was shot in the head and later assaulted by the police.
He said Luyanda was standing on the balcony at D flat with his friend when the shooting occurred.
“The police shot him in the head and he fell. The bullet went into the side of the head and came out at the back. They also attacked him while he was down and left him thinking that he was dead. His friends pulled him and hid him under the steps. After the police left, they took him to the clinic,” said Jack.
He said his brother was in a coma for more than a month in the hospital. He said after the incident he lost his speech and had a seizure.
“My brother became stammering and developed seizures and didn’t walk properly. But after some time. I think it was more than five years living with that, one day he was stuffing a bus and fell on Washington Road. He hit the ground with his head and became unconscious. A few days after that incident his speech came back and he walked properly. He never suffered any seizure again till he passed away in 2006,” he explained, adding that when he died he already had a family.