SOURCE A:

Township near Vereeniging in the Southern Transvaal where on 21 March 1960 police panicked and opened fire on a crowd of Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) anti-pass law demonstrators. Sixty-nine blacks were killed and 180 were injured. The shooting was universally condemned. A week later, the PAC and African National Congress were banned and a state of emergency was declared. The crisis led to an outflow of both capital and skills, and to further international pressure on South Africa to change its apartheid policy, but after a moment of indecision the government continued on the same road. Sharpeville remained a symbol of the brute force which lay behind apartheid.

(C.C. Sanders: An Illustrated Dictionary of South African History, 1994)

SOURCE B: The Government’s Response in Parliament

Dr Verwoerd gave Parliament details of the disorders. He said that some 2 000 Africans demonstrated by entering people’s homes and forcibly removing identity books.

The crowd gradually grew until there were some 20 000. Telephone wires were cut and disturbances occurred. The police had to open fire and 25 people were killed and 50 wounded. Dr Verwoerd said these facts and figures were provisional.

(Quoted in: Cape Times, Tuesday, 22 March 1960)

SOURCE C: Secondary Source – 500 jaar, CFJ Muller (1987)

According to Robert Sobukwe it would merely be the beginning of a resistance campaign which had to increase in force to such an extent that the PAC would be able to take over the government of the country within three years.

On orders of the PAC groups of Africans in various parts of the country burnt their passes on 21 March 1960 and then marched to the nearest police station asking to be arrested. In most residential areas the protest campaign was peaceful and the police either arrested the

participating Africans or ordered them to leave. In Sharpeville near Vereeniging and in Langa near Cape Town, the protest campaign however led to bloodshed.

In Sharpeville about 10 000 Africans converged on the police station. The police felt threatened and opened fire with machine guns. The crowd scattered. The shooting left 69 dead and 198 wounded. The post-mortem showed that most of those who died from bullet wounds, had been shot from behind, in other words, whilst they were already fleeing.

SOURCE D

A statement by Mr van Rhyn, South African High Commissioner in London, after the shooting (Shooting in Sharpeville: The Agony of South Africa, Gollancz, London)

According to factual information now available, the disturbances at Sharpeville on Monday resulted from a planned demonstration of about 20 000 natives during which demonstrators attacked the Police with assorted weapons, including firearms. The demonstrators shot first, and the Police were forced to fire in self-defence to avoid even more tragic results. The allegation of the United Nations Afro-Asian groups, in requesting a Security Council meeting, that the demonstrators were unarmed and peaceful is therefore completely untrue…

SOURCE E: An extract from a Republican Campaign Speech

Reaction of the South African Government: During his first public appearance since the shooting, Verwoerd said the following in Meyerton in a republican campaign speech and he spoke exactly the words the whites wanted to hear:

‘Nobody should be at all upset. Nobody should think that law and order could not be maintained.

The black masses of South Africa – and I know Bantu in all parts of the country – are orderly and peace-loving. They are loyal to the government and administration of the country…The groups of people seeking their own gain are small and they make use of mass psychology at mass gatherings, and by threats and other means are sometimes the cause of the trouble…We do not intend to be perturbed about what is done and said in the outside world in all ignorance.’

SOURCE F

Reaction from the ANC

Some ANC leaders alleged that the crowds that gathered at Sharpeville were not members or supporters of the PAC.

The crowds were not fully aware of what was going on.

It is said that they did not realize that they were there as part of the PAC protest.

Claimed that the African people hold the police and the PAC jointly responsible for the Sharpeville martyrdoms: the police for the actual killings, the PAC for its “untimely” and “irresponsible” action.

The ANC was about to organize its own anti-pass protests, which, according to what informants claimed, were better planned.

It can be safely assumed from reports of the judicial commissions, that the crowd was passive. That alone, however, is not positive proof either of the ANC claim that the crowds gathered in

ignorance of the purpose of the meeting, or of the PAC claim that they were all there to protest, in an orderly fashion, against passes. The police allegation that the crowds were dangerous, hostile, and threatening was not supported by the evidence given by independent eyewitnesses.

(Quoted from: Patrick van Rensburg: Guilty Land, 1962

SOURCE G:EXTRACT OF ROBERT MAJA’S EVIDENCE before the Court of Enquiry, Sharpeville Shooting:

Examined by Mr. Kentridge:

Mr. Maja, you are a Minister of the Presbyterian Church of South Africa? – I am.

Do you live in Sharpeville? – I do

On March 21 of this year, were you in Sharpeville?– I was.

At about what time did you leave your house on the morning of the 21st? – I am not so sure about the time but I think it was between ten and eleven.

And where did you go? – I went to a Minister, Mr Voyi, who is a Minister of the Anglican Church.

In Sharpeville? – Yes, at Sharpeville.

When you arrived at his house, what – did you find him home? – I found his wife at home and I enquired from her where he was, and she told me that he had gone to the Police Station

Did you find a crowd of people at the Police Station? – I found many people on the open, there.

Near the Police Station? – Yes.

Did you spend some time there among the crowd? – I did.

Can you tell us what the mood of the crowd was at that time? – They were happy.

Did the crowd seem to you to be aggressive? – No.

Or hostile towards the police? – There was nothing indicating fighting.

You did not see any weapons carried by members of the crowd? – Not a single one.

At the time you were there at the Police Station amongst the crowd, did you notice any aeroplanes flying over?– Yes, they did. A few would come and thereafter a few again, and so forth.

Did they dive low over the crowd? – Yes, they did. There were youngsters that were throwing their hats at these aeroplanes – ‘Hoorah! Hoorah!’ – flinging their hats up.

And how did you interpret that gesture of throwing their hats into the air and shouting ‘Hoorah!’? – They were enjoying it.

When you went after the shooting to these bodies, did you see any clothing lying about on the ground – hats or shoes?” – There were a number of shoes and hats.

SOURCE H:EXTRACT OF LECHAEL MUSIBI’S EVIDENCE before the Court of Enquiry, Sharpeville shooting:

Examined by Mr. Kentridge:

You are the school teacher in Sharpeville, are you not? – Yes.

On that day, did the children come to school? – No, they did not come to school.

What did you hear from the people? – I heard that some of the Pan-African members had organised that the people should not go to work.

Now, some time after one o’clock did you leave your house? – Yes, I did leave my house when it was one, or just after one o’clock.

Where were you cycling to? – I was cycling to school, to go and fetch my books there.

At that time, as you got within hearing distance can you describe to me what the mood of the crowd was as you saw it? – The mood of the crowd, as I saw them, was very calm. They were just idling – as if they were anxious to get to the Police Station; that is the impression I got.

Did you hear any shouting? – No shouting.

Cross-examiniation by Mr Louw:

Did you hear much singing there? – Yes they were singing.

What were they singing? – Christian songs.

What other songs did they sing? – They were singing’Abide with Me’.

SOURCE I: Chief Albert Luthuli’s poster – appealing for a day of mourning.

CHIEF LUTHULI

Calls upon you to:

MOURN THE VICTIMS OF POLICE VIOLENCE.

PROTEST AGAINST POLICE KILLINGS.

PROTEST AT THE PASS LAWS

STAY AT HOME FOR ONE DAY MONDAY 28 TH MARCH 1960

(Sources D, E, G, H and I are quoted from: C. PEARCE and S. KARABATSOS REPRESENTATIONS OF 20TH CENTURY HISTORY

1. Study Sources A and C. What was the cause of the Sharpeville incident?

2. Study Sources G and H. What is the similarity in Maja’s and Musibi’s description of the mood of the crowd?

3. Study Source A. What do you understand by ‘The shooting was universally condemned’? Motivate your answer with evidence from the source.

4. Study Source C. Explain why the post mortem proved that the dead had bullet wounds in their backs. Is it an indication that they were running towards or away from the police?

5. Were Mr Maja and Mr Musibi in a good position to describe the mood of the crowd? Motivate your answer with evidence from the sources.

5.1. Study Source G. Find evidence from this source that the crowd was unarmed.

6. Study Sources B and E

6.1 How is the Prime Minister, Dr Verwoerd, contradicting himself on the mood of the African people in South Africa?

6.2 What do you think is the reason for this? (Source E will help you to compile your answer)

7. Study Source I

7.1 How are people being asked to protest?

7.2 Do you think that this is an effective way of protesting? Motivate your answer.

7.3 What else do you think could the Africans do to show their resistance?

8. Study Sources A to I on the reactions towards the Sharpeville incident. Write down your own reaction to this incident.

9. Study Source F

9.1 What do you think was the reason for the ANC to react in this way to the PAC?

9.2 Whom did the ANC blame for the Sharpeville killings? Do you think the ANC is right? Give reasons for your answer.