Introduction
The Sharpeville Massacre Memorial has a cultural and historical significance for South Africans because of the events, which occurred in the Sharpeville massacre, which was the turning point of the apartheid and first initiation of the anti-apartheid. An investigation will be done to determine information about the memorial site, determining how the site compiles with the National Resource Heritage Act of 1999,issues with the site and ways to determine as to how the site should be preserved.
Analysis on the Sharpeville Massacre Memorial
The reason for the Sharpeville Massacre memorial is my choice from a heritage point of view.
The heritage site selected is The Sharpeville Massacre memorial because it adds a perspective of the…show more content… On the 21st March 1960, Pan Africanist Congress managed to organise a peaceful protest in Sharpeville. The purpose of the protest was to demonstrate their frustrations over the apartheid regime by burning their pass books which restricted them from entering certain areas (Themba Monnye Thingahangwi Tracy Tshivhase Khumbudzo Netshituni Khumbudzo Netshituni, 2016). The Police after having fear of being in danger by the protestors started firing their guns and killed 69 people (protestors). The international community experienced disgust from apartheid system by the gruesome horrors of the apartheid. This event was the turning point of the anti-apartheid movement. Currently the 21st of March is a public holiday to serve in honour of human rights and the commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre. On 21 March 2002, 42 years later, after incident of the massacre, former President Nelson Mandela opened the memorial as part of the Sharpeville Human rights Precinct (Emfuleni Local Municipality,…show more content… The geographical coordinates are -26.67038,27.88767. The memorial was constructed 2002.
This memorial site is one out of six heritage sites related to the memorial the other five are the Phelindaba Cemetry and Vuka Cemetry this is burial ground of the victims were killed during the massacre, the Sharpeville Police Station, the Sharpeville Roman Catholic Church and the Kwa Dlomo Dam. The design of the memorial park is simple with little maintenance. The memorial park contains vegetation.
The memorial contains blocks of stones showing the fatality spread over the complex and a fountain representing the blood bath, which was flowing through the streets at the time. Next to the memorial is an exhibition centre, which contains graphical images and posters related to the massacre. The graveyards in the two cemeteries have a red badge indicating that the graves a protected. The Sharpeville police Station is now used as a craft centre