HERITAGE DAY, celebrated on the 24 September is when South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their culture and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions – the heritage that makes up the population of our beautiful rainbow nation.
One thing that has become synonymous with the day is braaing after a media campaign in 2005 sought to ‘re-brand’ the holiday as National Braai Day, in recognition of the South African culinary tradition of holding informal backyard barbecues or braai’s.
In KZN, Heritage Day was known as Shaka Day in commemoration of King Shaka, the legendary Zulu King who played an important role in uniting disparate Zulu clans into a cohesive nation.
The Public Holidays Bill presented to the new democratic Parliament of South Africa in 1995 did not have 24 September included on the list of proposed public holidays.
As a result of this exclusion, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) with a large Zulu membership objected to the bill.
Parliament and the IFP reached a compromise and the day was given its present title and seen as a public holiday.
On 5 September 2007, Archbishop Desmond Tutu celebrated his appointment as patron of South Africa’s Braai Day, affirming it to be a unifying force in a divided country (by donning an apron and tucking into a boerewors roll).
At the end of 2007 National Braai Day changed its name to Braai4Heritage and the initiative received the endorsement of South Africa’s National Heritage Council (NHC).
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