While Freedom Day remained a precious milestone for the nation a couple of years after the first democratic elections, sadly, in 2015, the true essence of this historic day is slipping into oblivion, very much like the Hubble telescope drifting further into outer space.
April 27, 1994, marked a day of promised opportunity, prosperity, peace and hope. Fast forward 21 years and the honeymoon is surely long over.
We have now become a nation that is marked by the international community for attacking our fellow Africans. Disgraceful to say the least.
Many of these victims of xenophobia have fled from genocidal wars, only to be carved to pieces with machetes and smashed to bits with bricks as soon as they cross our borders.
The Mozambican national, Emmanuel Sithole, who was brutally slain for no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, has become the face of a country’s shame.
The xenophobic violence, prompting the deployment of soldiers (good to know we still have a semblance of an army!) in Alexandra, is a mere manifestation of a nation’s growing frustration with a government that is not living up to the promised ideals of Freedom Day.
Freedom Day once promised employment and prosperity. Now jobs are scarce and the competition to make a living, especially in the informal settlements, rages unabated.
It is quite ironic that President Zuma called for peace and an end to xenophobia, since it is the government who is mostly to be blamed for a country falling deeper into the pit of mediocrity, lawlessness and chaos.
And no, the media is not to be blamed for xenophobia. But this is the game that is played in this country – passing the buck, so that no one is held responsible resulting in little action or restitution.
Apart from the shame we have to bear for the bloody violence, unemployment, crime and poverty remain rampant, denting the once lofty dreams of Mandela’s Rainbow Nation.
If the government thinks this country is meeting the ideals of Freedom Day, then it is delusional.
How do you explain a parastatal like Eskom resorting to load shedding for a total of 30 days during the first four months of the year, just to keep the lights burning?
South Africa has, sadly, become synonymous with the freedom to practice poor management and poor leadership.
The lofty promises of freedom are, today, associated with those who abuse freedom by murdering, raping, and plundering, in order to prosper.
We will not even talk about the unchecked corruption practised by the so-called leaders in all spheres, in both the public and private sectors.
Why are we surprised at the barbaric behaviour among the youth? After all, their elderly mentors have hardly set an example of moral integrity and good conduct.
Freedom is now associated with land grabs, a growing number of squatter camps and illegal occupations, because the promises of homes for all, back in 1994, turned out to be empty propaganda.
It’s no wonder this country is still marked by poor service delivery, poor management and growing racism, because the excellent ideals of 1994’s Freedom Day have been replaced by a dysfunctional governance.
Mr President, it is certainly not alright, 21 years after 1994, that your people live in constant fear for their lives and have to struggle daily just to survive.
It is not okay that we are grateful when we are ”only” mugged, and that we all know that it is just a matter of time before hijacking, rape or murder shows up on the doorstep of someone we love.
How ironic that we celebrate Freedom Day, yet choose to live in cages, behind barbed wire, electric fences and security gates.
How ironic that, on Freedom Day, we feel anything but free, but rather like slaves of these violent times where poverty and injustice reign.
