Editorial
Tomorrow is Human Rights Day. It’s an important public holiday, perhaps the most important of all of South Africa’s 12, for it harks back to this country’s darkest, most inhumane times.
On March 21, 1960, police opened fire on people protesting the Pass Laws. By the time the shooting stopped 69 people lay dead and 180 had been wounded. The Pass Law restricted where people could go, where they could stay and where they could work.
It was a vicious and evil piece of legislation, stripping people of their basic human rights and dignity on the basis of their race. News of the massacre reverberated around the world. It was a watershed that 34 years later would lead to the final emancipation of this country.
Last year, our rights to assembly and movement were severely curtailed – in a manner never seen in democratic South Africa. This time the reason was not political but humanitarian. A year ago, none us really knew what to expect; today we know all too well about the pandemic and the cost it has wrought: our jobs, our loved ones.
Our initial lockdown, at the time the toughest in the world, was intended to stop the spread of the infection to prevent our medical facilities being overwhelmed. It worked, but we undid that success – and the incredible financial and economic cost – by dropping our guard in December through a series of so-called super-spreader events.
Today, we live under far more humane restrictions, but the threat of a third wave of Covid-19 looms large with the traditional Easter break becoming a potentially massive super-spreader event. We dare not take this chance. We are free. We can travel, but this virus is not beaten.
Let’s not sacrifice the human rights of a nation for the sake of the human rights of individuals.