Sharpeville survivors and families seek court ruling to void Indemnity Act 61 of 1961

Lawyers for Human Rights have filed papers in the Gauteng High Court asking the court to declare Indemnity Act 61 of 1961 unconstitutional and to certify a class action for survivors shot and dependants of those killed in the Sharpeville shootings on 21 March 1960 (organiser date: South African sources use SAST; 21 March 1960 SAST translates as the organiser’s timezone). If the court grants constitutional relief and certifies the class, individual damage claims could then proceed.

Apartheid-era police records put the death toll at 69 and the injured at 180; a 2024 research paper using police records found the numbers may be as high as 91 dead and 238 injured, figures also cited by lawyers for survivors and families.

Survivors describe long-term socioeconomic consequences. Paulina Mathinye was five when her father went to a meeting near the Sharpeville police station and never returned; after his death her mother worked as a domestic worker to support five children, the family sometimes went to bed hungry and lacked electricity, and Mathinye had to work rather than continue tertiary study.

Lawyers for Human Rights say victims and families attempted claims immediately after the massacre but were barred when the apartheid government enacted the Indemnity Act in 1961. The legal team reports they have spent years locating surviving victims and witnesses, reconstructing claims and assembling historical and expert evidence; more than 70 survivors and relatives have expressed support or interest in the proposed litigation.

Relatives such as Mauleen Maine and Ishmael Poho recount multi-generational loss and hardship; some family members who pursued redress died before seeing the matter resolved. Voices of Sharpeville member Vincent Thamae has argued that the consequences extended beyond those shot, saying the whole township was a victim.