The Year of OR Tambo: together deepening democracy and building safer and crime-free communities, 27 April 2017
The annual commemoration of Freedom Day is a celebration of the first post-apartheid elections held on the 27th of April in 1994 twenty-three years ago - of South Africa’s 22, 7 million eligible voters, 19.7 million voted in the 1994 national election. It is an occasion for the country to remember the struggle of many decades, its icons and those who continue to be committed to transformation and to building a better life for all of us.
Work has continued since 1994 to improve the living conditions of the people, to undo the legacy of exclusion, inequality and neglect. All policy instruments that have been introduced since 1994, are designed to achieve the vision of a better life for all, especially the poor. The democratic government has since 1994 spent each year delivering electricity, water, roads, clinics and schools to communities.
Freedom Day serves as a reminder to us that the guarantee of our freedom requires us to remain vigilant against the erosion of the Freedom values and to build an active citizenry that will work towards the attainment of rights embodied in the country’s Constitution. Our freedom is premised on policies that seek to set this country on a developmental trajectory for the benefit of all.
On development local government is restoring the dignity of our citizens, SALGA has committed itself over the years through its member municipalities to advice and lobby for sustainable ways to meet South Africans’ social, economic and material needs and improve the quality of their lives.
At the global level, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the United Nations in September 2015. The Agenda resolves to free the human race from poverty and heal and secure the planet, to sift the world onto a resilient path. SALGA through its Strategic Plan 2017 – 2020 is committed to localizing SDGs and its impact on lives of ordinary citizens.
“For 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
Please follow the hashtag: #FreedomDay
For further media enquiries:
Sivuyile Mbambato
Tel: 012 369 8000
Email: smbambato@salga.org.za
