Yes, Holiday Season. April hosts an abundance of public holidays in 2009 and I mean week-day holidays, the good stuff. This inspires a maximum output for those hard earned leave days, creating long stretches of holiday time for the South African public.
An addition to the usual suspects of the holiday calendar this April (and not without controversy) benifits from the inclusion of the 22nd to accommodate the elections. The scandal flying around the world regarding expats constitutional voting rights is thick on everyone’s mind, but will not sway from what should be the most exciting South African election we have seen in 15 years. With a split in the ANC, the new party COPE has stirred up a whirl wind of support in their brief existence. The DA’s successes in governing Cape Town have been statistically praised and the general feel is that this is not a year to ignore South African politics. This article however, is not based around politics, but is rather linked to it, in the form of Freedom Day.
We so often forget in these days of beer, boets and bliss the essence of what we are actually celebrating. The usual suspects of the April holiday calendar are perhaps even more important than the electoral voting day that comes around once every four years. The Easter weekend is obviously very influential in a religious sense, Good Friday and Easter Monday being the centre of all major Christian faiths. And then there is Freedom Day, a national holiday which celebrates one of the most positive achievements in recent South African history. The long walk to freedom.
15 years ago, on the 27th of April 1994, South Africa successfully demonstrated to the world how a previously divided nation, can unify in hosting a free and fair election. If we look to our neighbours in the land of trillion dollar notes and tiger fish, we can very quickly see how this is no gentle meander to the apple tree. This day, was knighted “Freedom Day”. What a worthy title in every sense of the word, identified by every race, cultural background and social class.
The world renowned freedom was historically painted by the will of the majority rising through the ashes of Apartheid. At the forefront of these achievements were men and women who struggled through seriously severe crap in order to break the bonds of oppression. We all know the legend. Madiba and co. (no, not COPE) steered the Titanic around the iceberg, drawing more attention than
Obama’s acceptance speech, and did so without spilling even a drop of milk. Hats off to that.
The freedom of choice, rolled out in front of every South African on that day. Suddenly the standard, or norms of society were questioned. Suddenly everyone, fitting in any suit of skin, could create their own identity and walk any path they wished. Man could now run rampant outside the trail of fading footsteps, previously imprinted in the sands of time. On that day, full South African potential was released upon the world and we have been constantly proving our worth in all fields ever since (go bokke).
Now I’m not saying that SA is perfect, every country will have their bugger ups. All that I am saying is that we as South African’s have amazing character and a remarkable ability to get it done. We have been tried, we have been tested, and we have come out on top.
What a gift freedom is, to be bestowed upon the people of South Africa.
In this holiday season, let’s take a second while fetching the dart wedged in the Weber. Let’s understand what was in SA, what was overcome and then what has been created, cultivated and achieved. Think about these aspects in the next argument over the petrol price or the flipping, dipping and diving economy. Think, smile and know that South Africans can achieve anything at any odds. South Africans can walk any line over any mountain.
15 years ago, South Africans were set free.
