By Lungile Ntimba
The Gauteng government will use Human Rights Day on Friday to officially endorse Unesco’s decision to declare protest-march sites as World Heritage sites.
This year’s provincial commemoration activities in Sharpeville will be taking place at the two newly designated World Heritage sites. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has elevated the statuses of the Sharpeville Memorial Monument and the 69 graves of the victims of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre.
The Memorial Monument located at the site of the massacre incident and the 69 graves at the Phelindaba Cemetery, have both been included in Unesco’s list of World Heritage sites as part of a collection of 14 locations associated with the Nelson Mandela Legacy Memorial programme.
In 1965, the UN declared the day of the massacre – 21 March 1960 – as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in support of South Africa’s pursuit of non-racialism and equality for all.
The theme for the international day this year is “60th anniversary of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Racial of Discrimination (ICERD)”.
The Gauteng sports, arts, culture and recreation department said on Wednesday that two sites were the latest to receive the highest level of heritage protection in the world.
The National Heritage Council of South Africa and the South African Heritage Resources Agency would attend to officially declare the sites.
In South Africa, the theme for the national day is “Deepening a Culture of Social Justice and Human Rights”.
It will focus on the importance of service delivery and respecting human rights for everyone.
The declaration will be followed by a formal programme to be addressed by Gauteng premier Panayza Lesufi at the George Thabe Stadium Cricket Pitch in Sharpeville.
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