The voices of some 50 elderly protesters are heard echoing in song across the grounds of South Africa's Constitutional Court in Johannesburg, the commercial heart of South Africa. They are demanding justice and reparations for abuses suffered under apartheid — 30 years after the country became a democracy.

They are all members of the Khulumani Support Group and the Galela Campaign — two groups fighting for financial redress for the victims of white minority rule under apartheid.

The protesters say that since they weren't identified as victims of human rights abuses during apartheid by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), led by the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu 28 years ago, they haven't benefited from any reparations paid out by the government to date.

While the group have protested in front of the court intermittently for years, their permanent camp outside the Constitional Court only started in November 2023.

One of the protestors is Thabo Shabangu. He was shot in the back by police officers in 1990 during a demonstration against the oppression of the majority black population by the white regime — just as the country was warming up to the idea of equality and democracy.

The 61-year-old told DW that he has never received any compensation for his injuries.

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He feels abandoned, he says: "I am so very, very disappointed. We are the revolutionaries, we are the people that........

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