Freedom Day commemoration reflects 'arduous path' to democracy
There were snaking queues of South Africans eager to vote in a new government during the first democratic election in 1994.
Image: Independent Newspapers Archives
Parliament and local political parties commemorated Freedom Day, marking 32 years since millions of South Africans voted in the first democratic elections in 1994.
Led by Speaker Thoko Didiza and Chairperson Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, Parliament's Presiding Officers joined all South Africans in honouring this historic occasion on Monday.
They said the first democratic elections ushered in a new era, marking the end of apartheid and institutionalised racial oppression.
“This year holds added significance as South Africa marks 30 years since the adoption of the Constitution in 1996. More than a legal framework, the Constitution embodies the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom, and affirms the rights of all who live in the Republic," they said.
The ANC said that in celebrating the 32 years, this herculean feat “painfully reminds us of the arduous path travelled many years since the formation of the ANC and the major events that changed, and the course of the liberation history shaping the strategies and tactics struggle to defeat apartheid, ushering in a free, democratic dispensation”.
“This day was not a miracle, but a history written in sacrifice, death, blood, pain yet also human perseverance and hope,” the ANC said.
DA leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, said today millions of South Africans live without the most basic condition of freedom: safety.
“Freedom is not only the right to vote. It is the freedom of a child to walk to school safely. It is the freedom of a mother to wait at a taxi rank without fear."
ActionSA President, Herman Mashaba, said that while it has been 32 years since the triumphant fall of apartheid, South Africans are facing a myriad of challenges, such as “the highest sustainable unemployment in the world, we are the murder and rape capital of the world”.
“International drug syndicates have found and identified South Africa as their playground, destroying the lives of the vulnerable and unemployed youth. We are still the most unequal society in the world, a country of the haves and the have-nots,” he said.
GOOD Party questioned how South Africa can truly claim to be free when the Cape Flats remains a battlefield.
“The relentless gang violence and the sight of bodies scattered across our communities are a stark reminder that for many, safety is a luxury they cannot afford. This is not freedom. The ongoing shootings strip residents of their fundamental rights, freedom of movement, safety and security, and human dignity… True freedom cannot exist in a state of fear and neglect."