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The Presidency has noted the complaint by residents of Sharpeville that the Human Rights Day commemoration was not held in their area, yesterday on the 21st of March.

We wish to emphasise that the commemoration and celebration of national days take place throughout the country and not necessarily in areas where certain events have a historical link.

On 21 March 1960, 69 people were mercilessly killed and scores were injured, as police opened fire on demonstrators who were protesting against the pass laws in Sharpeville. On the same day, police also shot and killed three protesters in Langa in Cape Town and injured many others. Another person was shot at a similar demonstration at the police station in Vanderbijlpark. It was in recognition of this that our Constitution was signed by President Mandela at a public ceremony held in Sharpeville.

Government declared 21 March as Human Rights Day as far back as 1996, to celebrate the country’s transition to a democratic system that honours and respects human rights, and to promote the country’s Constitution which enshrines human rights in a Bill of Rights.

The Human Rights Day commemoration is therefore about the remembrance of the tragic past, but more importantly, to highlight the need to ensure that we promote and consolidate our human rights culture and democracy.

Most media houses incorrectly reported that it was the first time that Human Rights Day was held outside Sharpeville. For example, last year in 2011, the President addressed the main Human Rights Day commemoration in Cape Town. Youth Day, Women’s Day and other national days are also commemorated around the country as they are national days, not owned by any one community.

Changing venues does not diminish the role played by the people of that community where it all started. Instead, it means their heroism is now being shared by the rest of the country.

We urge the South African public to understand that no single community owns the history of the country. It is a shared history from which all citizens must learn, be inspired and move forward in building a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.