Sobukwe a forgotten hero

Nine out of 10 children quizzed by The Times at the Sharpeville Memorial and Exhibition Centre had no idea who struggle icon Robert Sobukwe was.

Sobukwe, the founding president of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, led the March 21 1960 anti-pass laws protest which resulted in the massacre of 69 people in Sharpeville.

The children, many of whom were dressed in political party regalia, said they had never heard of Sobukwe.

Some, who came with their parents, watched an exhibition of pictures of the Sharpeville massacre, the 2012 Marikana massacre and other violent protests around South Africa.

Art exhibitor Thandolwethu Sepoi said he was inspired to display the images of black people being chained and assaulted when he learnt that black children were not being educated about the true origins of oppression.

"Our education system is Eurocentric. It promotes white supremacy," he said, adding that it was difficult to celebrate Human Rights Day when many people - even some who hold power today - fail to acknowledge that black people are also human beings.

"That is why the likes of Penny Sparrow can compare us to monkeys."

Sparrow's racist Facebook post last year went viral and she was later found guilty of hate speech by the Umzinto Equality Court .

Last week, the DA's Helen Zille, premier of the Western Cape, came under fire for "praising colonialism".

Zille wrote on Twitter that people who claimed the legacy of colonialism was only negative should think "of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc".

Sepoi said: "Helen Zille is misguided. It's either that or she believes her lies because colonialism disrupted African development ."