Ramaphosa Urges Anti-Corruption Push at Human Rights Day

President Cyril Ramaphosa urged South Africans to confront corruption and deepen their commitment to human rights during the national Human Rights Day commemoration on March 21, 2026, in Kimberley, Northern Cape. Speaking at Ar Abass Stadium to mark the 66th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, the president emphasized that the rights enshrined in the country's 1996 Constitution remain unfulfilled for millions facing poverty, unemployment, and inadequate services.

The event honored the 69 people killed and over 180 injured when apartheid police opened fire on unarmed protesters in Sharpeville township on March 21, 1960. The demonstrators had gathered peacefully to oppose pass laws that restricted Black South Africans' movement. The massacre, in which victims were shot in the back as they fled—including a 12-year-old boy—drew global outrage, leading the United Nations to designate the date as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It accelerated international pressure against apartheid and contributed to the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1965.