Arrests Follow Massacre

To make matters worse, some of the wounded with whom I spoke in hospital stated that they were taunted by the police as they lay on the ground, by being told to get up and be off. Others who tried to help were told to mind their own business. At first there was only one African minister of the Presbyterian Church of South Africa who tried to help the wounded and the dying.

Later, 77 Africans were arrested in connexion with the Sharpeville demonstration in some cases while they were still in hospital. In fact, it was clear on my visits to the wards of Baragwaneth Hospital that many of the injured feared what would happen to them when they left hospital.

The attitude of the South African Government to the events at Sharpeville can be seen from its reaction to the civil claims lodged the following September by 224 persons for damages amounting to around £400,000 ($1,120,000) arising from the Sharpeville killings. The following month the Minister of Justice announced that during the next parliamentary session the Government would introduce legislation to indemnify itself and its officials retrospectively against claims resulting from action taken during the disturbances earlier that year. This was done in the Indemnity Act No. 61 of 1961. Money could never compensate adequately for the loss of a breadwinner to a family or make up for lost limbs or permanent incapacity. But it would have been some assistance. It is true that in February 1961 the Government set up a committee to examine the claims for compensation and to recommend the payment of ex gratia payments in deserving cases. But this is not the same thing, and in fact by October 1962 no payments had been made.