The march, taking place on Saturday, 21 March 2026, will be led by the ANC together with its alliance partners, the South African Communist Party (SACP), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO).
Image: Ayanda Ndamane /Independent Newspapers
The ANC is calling on citizens across the country to join their Human Rights Day, which they have dubbed the “People's March in Defence of Our Sovereignty and Democratic Gains”.
The march, taking place on Saturday, 21 March 2026, will be led by the ANC together with its alliance partners, the South African Communist Party (SACP), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO).
They will also be joined by business formations, labour, faith based organisations, and civil society movements.
The main national event will take place in Johannesburg, Gauteng, with simultaneous marches and solidarity gatherings in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, East London, Eastern Cape, and Cape Town in the Western Cape.
The party said that South Africans must rise in unity to defend the democratic gains secured through struggle and sacrifice.
“Human Rights Day is rooted in the blood of the martyrs of Sharpeville who died in struggle against the brutal and heinous apartheid system 66 years ago as part of the long journey to achieve this constitutional democracy.
“As we mark 30 years of the adoption of our Constitution, we reaffirm that the Bill of Rights remains the cornerstone of our democracy and the guardian of our freedoms and rights,” the ANC said.
“The People's March is a peaceful mass action to defend the sovereignty of our Republic, protect our constitutional order and reaffirm the will of the people as the supreme authority in our land.
“South Africa is a sovereign democratic state with free and fair elections, an independent judiciary, a vibrant media and a constitutional commitment to transformation and redress. We gather in unity and solidarity to celebrate, nourish and strengthen our hard-fought democracy, which was earned through the blood and sacrifices of our forebears whose ideals we dare not betray and will always defend,” they said.
The party said the message of this march is that South Africa will not be bullied, and that it will not allow external pressure or internal opportunism to weaken SA’s constitutional democracy.
“We will not allow our sovereignty to be compromised. We will not allow the sacrifices of our forebears to be diminished.
“The ANC calls on workers, youth, women, veterans of the struggle, professionals, entrepreneurs, religious leaders and community activists to stand side by side in defence of our democratic gains. This is a march for constitutionalism, for national dignity, for unity of our people and for the continued transformation of our society,” they said.