Freedom Day is a public holiday in South Africa which is celebrated every year on 27 April. The day celebrates freedom and honors the first post-apartheid election that was held on that day in the year 1994.
Happy Freedom Day 2021
The elections were the first non-racial national elections where each person of voting age of more than 18 from any race group, together with the foreign citizens permanently inhabitant in South Africa, were permitted to vote. Until that time, under the apartheid administration, non-whites, in general, had only restricted rights or privileges to vote while native black South Africans had no voting rights of any kind.
This year in 2021, Freedom Day is going to be celebrated on 27 April 2021, Saturday. The day is the part of the twelve public holidays determined by the Public Holidays Act (No. 36 of 1994).
President Nelson Mandela addressed Parliament on the very first memorial of the holiday, “As dawn ushered in this day, the 27th of April 1994, few of us could suppress the welling of emotion, as we were reminded of the terrible past from which we come as a nation; the great possibilities that we now have; and the bright future that beckons us. And so we assemble here today, and in other parts of the country, to mark a historic day in the life of our nation. Wherever South Africans are across the globe, our hearts beat as one, as we renew our common loyalty to our country and our commitment to its future.”
Why is Freedom Day celebrated?
Freedom Day is celebrated every year in South Africa. 27 April honours the day in 1994 when the first democratic voting was conducted in South Africa. In the present day, South Africa rejoices Freedom Day in order to mark the freedom of their nation and its people from a long period of colonialism and White minority domination (apartheid).
Freedom Day Quotes 2021
Here are the various Freedom Day facts & quotes that you would like to know on this very joyous occasion:
In the year 1994 national election in South Africa, 19.7 million or 87% voted in the election out of 22.7 million eligible voters.
Nelson Mandela is considered to be the father of Modern South Africa for the active and influential role that he played in forming a democracy and finishing the domineering rule of the white minority.
One of the first acts that the National Party passed in the year 1949 at the beginning of the Apartheid government was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, which banned marriage between people of different races.
“As long as many of our people still live in utter poverty, as long as children still live under plastic covers, as long as many of our people are still without jobs, no South African should rest and wallow in the joy of freedom.” -Nelson Mandela.
“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” – Nelson Mandela
“The blacks are tired of standing at the touchlines to witness a game that they should be playing. They want to do things for themselves and all by themselves.” -Stephen (Steve) Bantu Biko. Letter to SRC Presidents, I Write What I Like, 1978.
“I am convinced that it would be treacherous to hide our heads in the sand and behave as though we remain on course in terms of the achievement of our shared and various national objectives.” -Former President Thabo Mbeki, 2012
“We were expected to destroy one another and ourselves collectively in the worst racial conflagration. Instead, we as a people chose the path of negotiation, compromise, and peaceful settlement. Instead of hatred and revenge, we chose reconciliation and nation-building.” -Nelson Mandela.
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