Freedom Day: Why we commemorate it
As the country celebrates Freedom Day, it is important to know why it is more than just a public holiday and why it is commemorated.
POLOKWANE – “There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain tops of our desires.”
These are famous words by the infamous late former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela who spoke on the country’s freedom in 1953.
27 April commemorates the day in 1994 when the first democratic election was held in South Africa. Freedom Day marks the liberation of our country from the apartheid regime.
The ANC, South African Communist Party (SACP), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and other organisations were unbanned on 2 February 1990, and a non-racial constitution was eventually agreed upon and adopted in 1993.
On 27 April 1994, the nation finally cast its vote in the first democratic election in the country gaining international attention.
https://youtu.be/WFD-0Um9FjI
The ANC was then voted into power, and Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the President of South Africa on 10 May.
However, 15 years into our democracy, many of these issues are still rife in our country, facing new challenges such as growing inequality among South Africans and political and economic instability in the region.
With the country celebrating today, we’d like to know, what does freedom mean to you?
