Sharp-nosed at Sharpeville
Date
2012-02
Authors
Nasson, Bill
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS OpenJournals
Abstract
Vereeniging, a drab and sooty industrial spot south of Johannesburg, was the spot where the
British and the Boers signed the peace treaty of May 1902 which ended the South African War
and paved the way to the first New South Africa. It was also there that, 94 years later, Nelson
Mandela signed the final draft of his country’s new post-apartheid constitution into law, sealing
the arrival of the second New South Africa. Symbolically, it was a telling choice of place, and in
more ways than one. Because that adoption ritual took place in Vereeniging’s African township
of Sharpeville, the location where in March 1960 South African police opened fire with live
ammunition on Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)-led African demonstrators who had assembled to
protest against the detested pass laws of the apartheid regime.
Description
The original publication is available at http://www.sajs.co.za/
Keywords
Book review, Sharpeville, Apartheid, Massacre, Consequences, Tom Lodge, South Africa, History
Citation
Nasson, B. 2012. Sharp-nosed at Sharpeville. South African Journal of Science, 108(1/2), doi: 10.4102/sajs.v108i1/2.1035