FOR Tsoana Nhlapo, chief executive of the Sharpeville Foundation in South Africa, the fight to keep alive the memory of the massacre that took place in March 1960 is a vital one.

Nhlapo says it is still important to remember what happened in the black township of Sharpeville, some 30 miles from Johannesburg, where the apartheid regime’s police murdered at least 69 black people and wounded about 180.

The massacre took place during one of the first open and most violent demonstrations against apartheid and is marked globally on March 21 each year as the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

“Many people who mark the day don’t even realise that it is observed to mark the Sharpeville murders,” Nhlapo tells me.

“I grew up in Sharpeville and never really knew what happened. People locally never really talked about it that much.”

“Every now and then, my grandmother would say this or that happened, but it was hard for me to believe the things she was saying all took place on a spot I passed by each day.

“It wasn't until after I went to art school in Sharpeville that I began to learn more because the gentleman teaching us was a pan-Africanist.

“Over and above teaching us art, he used to incorporate pan-Africanism into our learning.”

It was the Pan-Africanist Congress that organised the countrywide demonstrations against the infamous pass laws on March 21 1960, which led to the brutal crackdown by the apartheid regime.

Nhlapo says: “It must have been around 2005 when I made a conscious effort to commemorate Sharpeville each year.

“In 2009, some of us formed an organisation called Sharpeville First because the following year was going to be the 50th anniversary of the massacre.”

“After we won democracy, the government changed the name from Sharpeville Day to Human Rights Day.

“There was no real recollection of why people were there. People would just come and get drunk.

“But the ANC government was hell-bent on keeping it as Human Rights Day.”

“The actual event seems to be used more as a soundbite.

“I think this is because Sharpeville was led by the Pan-Africanist Congress and not the ANC.”

Nhlapo adds: “The new constitution of South Africa was even signed in Sharpeville, but it was signed on December 10, which is International Human Rights Day. This makes it really difficult to hold on to the memory of what happened at Sharpeville.”

“I got involved in the Sharpeville Foundation in 2013 and became chief executive officer in 2017.

“We help to support the makeshift businesses and services of the youth that spring up around Sharpeville.

“But we also commemorate other significant days such as the Soweto uprising, which itself is now known as Youth Day.

“Our memory of these significant events is important to hang on to, but it makes it difficult when the government appears to want to distance themselves.”

Nhlapo says that it is important to link whatever they do to African culture and spirituality.

“We place a lot of focus on March 20 — the day before — when people had the spirit and intention to protest, and not just about the murder that took place the following day,” she said.

I ask Nhlapo what her hopes are for the future.

“We need to formulate a new kind of struggle for the future,” she replies.

“There are still huge injustices in South Africa, where whites are still benefiting from the legacy of apartheid while blacks are still struggling to survive.

“Firstly we still need justice for the families of the victims of Sharpeville. More information has recently come to light to say that 84 people were actually murdered on the day by the apartheid regime.

“So part of the foundation’s work is to at least get the figures right.

“We also think we should have Sharpeville declared as a world heritage site to recognise the importance of what happened that fateful day.”

When asked where her hope for the future comes from, Nhlapo says: “A return to our African culture and spirituality is important. We have had these ripped away from us and we need to return to our roots.

“As African people, we need to understand that we don’t need to become Westernised and leave our culture and spirituality behind as if they are somehow inferior.”

“We need to prioritise memory and the idea that ours is as important as anyone else’s and that we should celebrate our African heritage,” she adds.

“This helps us to understand the important place of Africa in the world. We need to end the exploitation of the continent by the West.

“We are the youngest continent and so we are set to play an important part in global affairs going forward.”

Nhlapo also says: “To help us with the fight for memory, we are working to put together a documentary on the Sharpeville murders.

“We think this is an important part of the process of not just looking back but also to help us to move forward in a way that Africans can have pride in our resistance to apartheid and be ready to face the challenges now ahead of us.”

She adds: “If there are film-makers in the UK who can help us to do this or organisations who want to partner with us, then we are open to that because the story is incomplete.”

Memory fades fast and can easily be distorted over time. If we are to use the resistance of the past to help us to move forward then we need to do whatever we can to raise consciousness among not only the people of Africa but also more widely.

The fight against apartheid may be formally over, but the struggle to build a South Africa where blacks also prosper remains ongoing.

The work of Nhlapo and the Sharpeville Foundation is one example of that vital struggle.

Follow the Sharpeville Foundation at bit.ly/SharpeFound.