South Africans celebrate 20 years on Freedom Day

The country has done well in the past 20 years in combating crime and corruption, President Jacob Zuma said at the Freedom Day celebration at the Union Buildings in Arcadia on Sunday.

This year’s Freedom Day, celebrated on 27 April annually, marked 20 years of freedom and democracy in our country.

The theme of the day was ‘South Africa – A Better Place to Live’. On the day in 1994, South Africans of all races cast their votes in the first ever democratic elections, which gave rise to freedom and constitutional democracy.

Addressing thousands of people at the event, Msholozi said that in 1994, under the leadership of President Nelson Mandela, they set out to achieve a number of goals: to combat crime and corruption; build a united, democratic, non-sexist society; deepen democracy and promote the culture of human rights and people’s participation in changing their lives for better; meet basic needs and develop human resources, build the economy and create jobs; transform the state; and build a better Africa and a better world.

“We have done well on all these pillars…We have moved closer to our cherished dream of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa,” Zuma said. He added that although the levels of serious crime and property crime had declined since 1994, they were not complacent. “We must work to build even safer communities,” Zuma said.

He told the nation that they were concerned about crime levels, particularly crimes against vulnerable groups such as women and children, and affirmed to them that this problem would continue to receive government’s priority attention.

He also highlighted that more progress had been made in the area of improving access to justice, especially for those who were previously marginalised. Zuma said they made this possible through the establishment of more police stations and courts and increased provision of legal aid.

The president stated that over the past

20 years, more people were employed in both the formal and informal sectors; employment figures grew by around

5.6 million people. More than 1 500 new health facilities had been built, while others had been refurbished, and most clinics were now open 24 hours. He highlighted that the government’s HIV transmission programme had saved thousands of lives and indicated that the launch of the testing campaign in 2011 encouraged more that 20 million to get tested for HIV.

It was also brought to light that in 2012, 83% of households had access to proper sanitation compared to 50% in 1994. The government has distributed 9.4 million hectares of land, benefiting almost a quarter of a million people. Over the past 12 years, close to 3 million houses were built. Approximately 56% of all subsidies were allocated to female-headed households.