South Africa celebrates 30 years of democracy on Saturday, 27 April, which is known as Freedom Day and the young “Rainbow Nation” and its citizens will soon be taking to the polls to exercise their right on the ballot paper by voting for the party that will continue this legacy on 29 May.
The historic day of 27 April 1994, highlighted the beginning of a new journey of building a new SA, one that truly belongs to all who live in it. The day saw SA’s first democratic elections which were inclusive of all races, sealing the end of the apartheid era and the return of human rights as well as dignity for previously marginalised South Africans.
Freedom, in its true sense, is the power or right to act, think, or speak as one wishes. It’s also a state of not being imprisoned or enslaved – when iconic struggle stalwarts and freedom fighters put their lives on the line that’s what they hoped for. With the new democracy, learners today, have the right to a safe and supportive learning environment and exercise their right to freedom of speech and expression. Thirty years later, learners are enjoying the freedom of democracy which allows them to choose their friends, attend multiracial schools, and not be discriminated against because of the colour of their skin.
The Phoenix Tabloid joined by the learners of Swanvale Primary School takes this opportunity to wish the entire community a happy Freedom Day on Saturday, 27 April.
