OUR 20th year of democracy begins today. Though some political parties define youth as the years up to 40, the reality for most people is that the hard work of life begins around the stage we have reached as a sovereign, independent and democratic country.
To some it will seem like yesterday that Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu danced his jig beside the ballot box, Nelson Mandela beamed as he dropped the first national vote of his life into the box and millions of South Africans from every walk of life joined snaking queues together to usher their country into freedom.
To those as old as this democracy, however, that day may seem like ancient history and feel barely relevant to the lived reality of 2013.
It is worth recalling that April 27 1994, marked the formal end of a system that invented separate entrances to public buildings for black and white, segregated trains and buses, the reservation of certain jobs, suburbs, hospitals and schools for the white minority, the criminalisation of inter-racial relationships and a ban on the publication of Nelson Mandela’s words or image.
Our freedom from that tragic past is the most precious thing this country has achieved. It is a freedom we owe to the thousands of men and women who led the struggle against apartheid, but also to the millions who endured it with fortitude and tried to live an honourable life within that terrible system.
This newspaper will join just about every institution of our society in marking the next anniversary of our freedom, when we count our democracy to be 20 years old. We will over the next 12 months explore the successes of democracy, count its achievements and explore the challenges that face us as we line up together again to vote in our fifth free election.
Most South Africans are to some extent disappointed at the state of the nation.
Our inability to offer every child a dignified and effective education, to create jobs for half of the born-free generation and to maintain the infrastructure we inherited from white rule, is inexplicable.
Crime leaves no one untouched. The corruption that is corroding the foundations of our economy and the values of the nation makes most of us sick to the stomach.
But we have built more than we have broken in the past 19 years, we have opened wider horizons for every citizen of this beloved country. The legislative barriers to development are gone. Disadvantage has replaced oppression as the common price of a darker skin.
Freedom delivered no miracles, but there is nothing to stop us getting it right from here. Nothing except our own complacency.
After 19 years let’s get it right
To some it will seem like yesterday that Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu danced his jig beside the ballot box, Nelson Mandela beamed as he dropped the first national vote of his life into the box and millions of South Africans from every walk of life joined snaking queues together to usher their country into freedom.
To those as old as this democracy, however, that day may seem like ancient history and feel barely relevant to the lived reality of 2013.
It is worth recalling that April 27 1994, marked the formal end of a system that invented separate entrances to public buildings for black and white, segregated trains and buses, the reservation of certain jobs, suburbs, hospitals and schools for the white minority, the criminalisation of inter-racial relationships and a ban on the publication of Nelson Mandela’s words or image.
Our freedom from that tragic past is the most precious thing this country has achieved. It is a freedom we owe to the thousands of men and women who led the struggle against apartheid, but also to the millions who endured it with fortitude and tried to live an honourable life within that terrible system.
This newspaper will join just about every institution of our society in marking the next anniversary of our freedom, when we count our democracy to be 20 years old. We will over the next 12 months explore the successes of democracy, count its achievements and explore the challenges that face us as we line up together again to vote in our fifth free election.
Most South Africans are to some extent disappointed at the state of the nation.
Our inability to offer every child a dignified and effective education, to create jobs for half of the born-free generation and to maintain the infrastructure we inherited from white rule, is inexplicable.
Crime leaves no one untouched. The corruption that is corroding the foundations of our economy and the values of the nation makes most of us sick to the stomach.
But we have built more than we have broken in the past 19 years, we have opened wider horizons for every citizen of this beloved country. The legislative barriers to development are gone. Disadvantage has replaced oppression as the common price of a darker skin.
Freedom delivered no miracles, but there is nothing to stop us getting it right from here. Nothing except our own complacency.
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