Human rights will always be incomplete without land, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said on Tuesday.

In commemoration of the Sharpeville, Langa and Uitenhage massacres, the party again called for expropriation of land without compensation.

“This day is an assertion that until there is justice and equality in relation to land, until the dignity of Black people is restored through access to land, any human rights attained are incomplete,” spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said.

“This is because there can be no human right with no land. All human rights are unsustainable without the right to land. They all exist in a time boom because the majority of our people have to claim to this land.”

The African National Congress on Tuesday said Human Rights Day would forever remain an iconic day in the country.

“The day is also a day of celebration of the triumph of our people’s commitment to human dignity  and universal justice against tyranny and disregard for human life,” spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said.

He said the day was a struggle against forgetting and a constant reminder that the freedoms the country enjoyed today were not free.

“Rising from these painful episodes in history, South Africans should use these days to recommit ourselves to the values we collectively said would define our new nation,” he said.

“We must also reject those amongst us who continue to praise colonialism and the systematic oppression of our people, undermining the sacrifices of the oppressed majority of blacks in general and Africans in particular.”

The Inkatha Freedom Party’s Blessed Gwala said Human Rights Day should be about eradicating racism and fast tracking service delivery to the people.

“This celebration should not be an empty ritual filled with song and dance only. In order to be meaningful it must focus on the challenges of the present,” Gwala said.