AS Human Rights month comes to a swift close, we must reflect on the pertinence of turning our gaze inward, taking stock of our nation’s gruelling history, as well as the ongoing struggles in our post-democratic society.

This month was the historic commemoration in which those who fought against the barbaric apartheid regime, particularly those slain in the Sharpeville and Langa massacres — many of whom were young children — are honoured.

South Africa is particularly sensitive and connected to human rights activism because of our arduous history. Under the barbaric apartheid regime, black South Africans experienced many of the worst human rights abuses in history, and this took place for well-over half a century.

Human rights issues are not a matter of the past, they are still a stringent part of our daily realities. Our post-democratic society is marked by significant unemployment, food insecurity, rampant crime, poor public service delivery, impoverished communities, corruption in governance, violence against women and children, debilitated healthcare communities, among many more challenges.

It is a great travesty that many of the societal challenges — and human rights violations — we contend with today were being arduously fought for over 65 years ago.

Human rights month is not merely a memorial to the suffering under the mercilessness of the apartheid government or its callous human rights violations, it is about how countless people of colour stood up to an inhumane unjust system of oppression.

It is about the individual sacrifices that were made by Tsietsi Mashinini, Ashley Kriel, Lilian Ngoyi, Philip Kgosana, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Onkgopotse Tiro, Robert Sobukwe, Ruth First, Seth Mazibuko, Felicia Mzamo, Solomon Mahlangu, and countless others.

Our responsibility as South Africans is to uphold the values, beliefs, and principles of equality that scores of innocent people literally died for. In fact, this human rights month is an opportune time to acknowledge the various types of activists that were crucial to the successful ending of apartheid.

This was not only a physical form of political activism that was undertaken, but also an institutional, social, cultural, economic, international activism that was at play. It was the integrated efforts of people everywhere — nationally and internationally — in vanquishing the brutish apartheid regime.

This type of collective effort towards a just and humane society is one that has never wavered. In fact, these activism’s directly correlate with the social justice challenges we contend with today.

The fight for access, equality, socioeconomic upliftment, a good standard of education, unbiased institutions, an honourable government, and more, are eerily reminiscent of the battle against a racist and oppressive regime. How then are we contending with such similar challenges in our current society?

According to the Human Rights Commission of South Africa (HRCSA), today, over 60% of black and over 40% coloured people live in abject poverty, compared to just 1% of white South Africans. Just days ago, Stats SA reaffirmed black people as predominantly occupying informal economy jobs, comprising 88.9%. Informal jobs are also disproportionately occupied by women, than men.

These disparities are not merely statistical — they shape the lived experiences of millions of South Africans.

This is also reflected in the physical makeup of our society — another remnant of the bigoted apartheid regime. In urban areas, racial segregation is still evident in residential patterns, with wealthy, predominantly white communities often miles away from the impoverished, predominantly black townships.

Regardless of our post-democratic society, racial tensions have always bubbled on the surface. This is especially evident in newsworthy events, where black children are attacked by white nationalists in play areas and swimming pools, where black people are unceremoniously ejected from public spaces like restaurants, where workers are brutally murdered or eerily disappeared by white farmers in remote areas with no consequences, and many more instances much like these.

The racial divide is further fueled by tensions over land reform. At the end of January, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Bill. This allows the government to acquire land for purposes, such as natural resources, infrastructure development, and land reform.

Certain white nationalist groups were in an uproar over this, misconstruing the Act for allowing land seizure with “nil compensation”. Although this is specified to unique circumstances, the Act outlines the process as requiring an attempted deal to take place with the owner, before any expropriation is proceeded with.

Despite these allowances, US President Donald Trump has lambasted Ramaphosa and the vast majority of South Africans as being racist, stating that white “classes of people” were being treated “very badly” in South Africa. South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who is now a key adviser to Trump, has amplified the Trump’s attacks on South Africa.

Although countless white South Africans have taken to social media to poke fun at Trump’s comments, as well as their own socioeconomic privilege, Trump has doubled-down on his claims that the “white minority” of South Africa is facing racial discrimination, even inviting the white people of South Africa to live in the USA. By the end of March, The US Embassy in South Africa received a list of more than 67 000 people interested in refugee status in the US.

The back-and-forth over land issues has been a contentious debate in post-democratic South Africa. Land was seized from all black people under the Land Act of 1913, and innumerable populations were forcefully removed or killed under this unjust law. It further disallowed black people from purchasing or leasing any land that they wanted, and demarcated arable land to white people exclusively.

In fact, the Land Act is attested as the cornerstone upon which apartheid was driven forward. Why then is the Expropriation Act not seen as the reversal of an unjustifiable, discriminatory policy?

The value of land is undeniable. Its role in maintaining the livelihoods of multiple households concurrently, its impact on social and political instability, its economic role, its potential for valuable infrastructure, and even its historical significance in the cultures and legacies of indigenous South Africans, is all indisputable.

Our Constitution has been internationally revered as the best constitution in the whole world. Our constitution affirms the right to land reform as a human rights imperative. The long-lived inaction on the land issue by our government has made way for criticism by the likes of Trump and Musk, when in fact, it was supposed to be swiftly addressed by the very first democratically elected President: Nelson Mandela.

It is not only former President Mandela, but also Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and Ramaphosa that were inclined to address the land matter decisively, and failed to do so. It is now generations into a democratic South Africa, and the fight for land restitution is still ongoing, despite it being an obligatory as part of what constitutes a democratic society. As Dr Martin Luther King Jr once astutely said, “a right delayed is a right denied”.

Another serious contender for the government is one of the key pillars of South Africa’s future: education. Today, the education system still reflects deep inequalities. In many parts of the country, schools remain underfunded, overcrowded, and lacking in basic resources. Poor education ultimately limits economic opportunities, perpetuating the cycle of poverty, and preventing South Africans from achieving the equality promised by the democratic state.

Additionally, the stark contrast between well-resourced, predominantly white schools and the underfunded schools in townships is a testament to how far South Africa still has to go in achieving true equality. Without a fair, equitable education system, the dream of a united, prosperous nation will remain elusive.

Ultimately, the challenges of our nation today are highly intersectional. Poverty and socioeconomic inequalities perpetuate lower education, which perpetuates lower economic opportunities, and ultimately continues the cycle of poverty that was being arduously fought against, even before 1960. This shows how the quality of life of innumerable people is being affected by factors that they have no control over.

This human rights month, it is the onus of all South Africans to take back control of their society. The echoes of apartheid reverberate through the present, manifested in the stark economic inequalities that define South African society today.

Outside of Human Rights Day, however, it is a rarity for their sacrifices to be deservedly commemorated. It is for this reason that the month of March is a critical time of reflection - for the battled of the past, and the freedoms that are still being fought for today.

In 2025, the nation must reckon with the reality that human rights are not just ideals on a piece of paper but tangible goals that require constant vigilance and action. South Africa’s future will be built on the strength of its people, the courage to confront uncomfortable truths, and the commitment to building a society that values dignity, equality, and justice for all. In the words of our first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela, “to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity”.

* Tswelopele Makoe is a gender and social justice activist and the editor at Global South Media Network. She is a researcher and columnist, published weekly in the Sunday Independent, Independent Online (IOL), Global South Media Network (GSMN.co.za), Sunday Tribune and Eswatini Daily News. She is also an Andrew W Mellon scholar at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, UWC. The views expressed are her own.

** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, Independent Media, or IOL.

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Human Rights Month: A time of reflection and action