By Enyichukwu Enemanna
As South Africa celebrates 30 years of democracy, which brought to an end the apartheid era, the country’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa has applauded his party, the African National Congress (ANC) for its achievements in the last three decades.
ANC has held leadership since 1994 when the country held its first inclusive poll. April 27 is the day “when we cast off our shackles. Freedom’s bells rang across our great country,” Ramaphosa said on Saturday, reminding South Africans about the first democratic election in 1994 that ended white-minority rule.
“South Africa’s democracy is young. What we’ve achieved in these short 30 years is something of which all of us should be proud. This is an infinitely better place than it was 30 years ago,” the 71-year-old leader said in a speech marking “Freedom Day” at the Union Buildings, the seat of government, in Pretoria on Saturday.
The first inclusive election in which South Africans for the first time queue to cast their ballots saw the previously banned African National Congress (ANC) party win overwhelmingly and made its leader, Nelson Mandela, the country’s first Black President, four years after being released from prison.
With the ANC winning a landslide victory, a new constitution was drawn up, and it became South Africa’s highest law, guaranteeing equality for everyone, regardless of race, religion, or sexuality.
The ANC still enjoys recognition for its role in freeing South Africans from the firm grip of the white-minority.
For many South Africans however, the party is no longer celebrated in the same way as it was in the beginning, as poverty and economic inequality remain rife.
Ramaphosa used the occasion to list improvements championed by the ANC, which is struggling in the polls taking place May 29 and risks losing its outright parliamentary majority for the first time.
“We have pursued land reform, distributing millions of hectares of land to those who had been forcibly dispossessed,” he said.
“We have built houses, clinics, hospitals, roads and constructed bridges, dams, and many other facilities. We have brought electricity, water and sanitation to millions of South African homes.”
The party’s image has come to question following accusations of graft and its inability to effectively tackle poverty, crime, inequality, and unemployment, which remain staggeringly high.
The governing party is being largely blamed for the lack of progress in improving the lives of so many South Africans.
