WhatsApp weekly update 16-20 March 2026

Today is South African Human Rights Day. This day was previously called “Sharpeville day” to commemorate what happened in Sharpeville – about 60 km south of Johannesburg – on 21 March 1960, when several protestors who wanted to burn their passbooks (or dompas) were shot and killed in the back by the apartheid police. Today, we continue to honour the courage and memory of the victims, some of the many martyrs and first seeds of our democracy.

The best way to honour them is to build the best possible democracy on this planet. And that will require that we do all we can to fight youth unemployment, the deep deep shame of our nation and unrealised hope of our constitution (apparently the best in the world). Hopeless young people are not a statistic to be thrown around: these are real human beings who want to honour the creativity inherent in them and honour their families but for whom there are no or very little opportunity to do so. We are proud to say that VYLTP is one institution that works every day to ensure that their human rights are affirmed. (Apologies for this sermon!).

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