THE government has been lashed out for not supporting survivors and families of the Sharpeville Massacre.
The survivors say their pleas for support are yet to be heard 63 years later.
Abraham Mofokeng (84), one of the survivors still leaving with a bullet in his body, said he still remembers the day vividly and never received support from the government.
Mofokeng said he only gets food parcels when the day of commemoration gets closer.
Several political parties flocked to Sharpeville township to commemorate the day and called for political change coming 2024 elections.
Another survivor Selloane Phethane said: “Please rename Human Rights Day to Sharpville Shooting Day because it is not suitable to commemorate the victims.”
She pleaded with the Gauteng MEC for Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Morakane Mosupyoe, to make her dream a reality.
Phethane told Daily Sun that she was 15 years old in 1960 when her mother was shot dead.
“I sustained injuries which I will live with for the rest of my life, and the government has never done anything for the survivors,” she added.
Families of the survivors echoed the same message and said the government should consider compensating them instead of inviting them for commemorations.
The PAC celebrated the day by burning a homemade coffin of apartheid leader Hendrik Verwoerd and an apartheid flag.
MEC Morakane, together with Sedibeng District Municipality Mayor Lerato Maloka and Emfuleni Mayor Sipho Radebe, paid tribute to the 69 victims by laying wreaths at Phelindaba cemetery.
MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko, handed over title deeds to several of the elderly.
Action SA leader Herman Mashaba honoured the victims of the Sharpeville massacre and said their party was recommitting itself to fight for the dreams of their dreams.
“The people who fought so bravely for our democracy would not be happy with the state of Sharpeville today with its drug problems and poverty. Neither would they be happy with the state of South Africa, and we have to fight to achieve their dreams for a better South Africa,” Mashaba said.
