The defence opens its case in the Treason Trial

Residents refused to use PUTCO buses after a fare increase. Thousands walked long distances to work, and the action spread to other townships.

After nearly three months of mass participation, employers and the state accepted a subsidy arrangement that prevented commuters from paying the full fare increase.

Verwoerd, previously the minister responsible for Bantu Education, became prime minister and intensified the apartheid programme of racial separation and Bantustans.

Africanists who had broken from the ANC formed the PAC at Orlando Community Hall. Robert Sobukwe became president and emphasized African leadership and anti-colonial liberation.

The act abolished limited African parliamentary representation and divided Africans into state-defined ethnic units. It advanced the Bantustan project while denying common South African citizenship.

Sobukwe informed the police that the Pan Africanist Congress would begin a disciplined, nonviolent campaign against pass laws on 21 March.

Police opened fire on an unarmed anti-pass gathering at Sharpeville, killing 69 people and wounding about 180. The massacre transformed resistance inside South Africa and international opposition to...

Police violence also struck the anti-pass protest at Langa near Cape Town. Two people were killed and dozens wounded, placing Langa within the same national wave of resistance and repression as...

Prime Minister Verwoerd praised the police and denied that the violence reflected opposition to apartheid. Authorities also detained PAC leaders and prepared sedition charges.

Robert Sobukwe, P. K. Leballo and eleven others were charged with incitement following the protests. The prosecutions formed part of a rapid state crackdown.