ABRAM MOFOKENG (84) lives with a bullet lodged in his spine and a scar on his right leg, serving as a painful reminder of the freedom they fought for but never got celebrated for it.
He was part of the freedom fighters, who headed to the call of then PAC leader Robert Sobukwe to hand themselves over to the apartheid police as a protest against the carrying of the identification passes.
Abram told Daily Sun that he was at the forefront of the peaceful protest before the police opened fire at them.
“We were living as foreigners in our own land, and we got tired of that treatment. When we went to the police station, we went there to raise our grievances. We sang struggle songs peacefully. One of the retired soldiers who was among us warned us that were going to be killed.
“We didn’t listen to him until the police opened fire at us. At some point, I saw myself crawling on top of another woman who was shot dead,” he said.
Abram said he was shot in the back and in the leg as he was crawling on the ground trying to flee from the police. And because of the rush of what was happening, he couldn’t feel he was shot until it began to rain and saw blood coming out of his leg.
“I was rushed to the hospital, where I was admitted for three months. My family didn’t know where I was until I was discharged and taken to Boksburg Prison, where we were tortured by the police,” he said.
Abram said the torture was far worse than being shot on the spine.
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He said after that, life was never the same.
Abram was in and out of the hospital because of the bullet the doctors couldn't remove.
He said when democracy came, he hoped their sacrifice would be acknowledged by the government, but none of that happened.
“What hurts me the most is seeing how this day is slowly losing its importance. It has now become a day where the government gets to lie to the people.
“This day was marked by blood, and a monument was created where our fellow comrades were killed even our Constitution was signed there,” he said.
Abram told Daily Sun that the history of 21 March was fading just like all the survivors faded without getting the reward and the recognition they deserved.
“The struggle for us continues. We'll die fighting for what is due to us."
Like others who were affected by the massacre, Abram lives on a grant and relies on his children to nurse the pain of the scars from being shot 64 years ago.
