62nd anniversary of the Freedom Charter an opportunity to recommit ourselves to unity
26 June 2017
The African National Congress celebrates the 62nd Anniversary of the Freedom Charter in a South Africa markedly different from the exclusionary, racist and repressive country of the apartheid regime. Through the advancement of the radical program of the National Democratic Revolution, South Africa today has all the key tenants of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society - a mere dream to our forebears, the drafters of the Freedom Charter in 1955.
Sixty two years on, our country has much to celebrate as we continue to advance the implementation of the demands of the Freedom Charter. While, together, we have recorded significant successes in dismantling institutionalized racism and lifting the quality of life of many our people, the perennial challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality remain - stubborn and still defined by the contradictions of race, class and gender.
In 1955, our people declared with no fear of contradiction that, “South Africa, belongs to all who live in it, black and white” . They developed the Charter as the common program of the South African people, becoming the primary political program of the ANC led government in the democratic dispensation. In the words of President Oliver Tambo, “The Charter expresses the aspirations of our people, regardless of color, for the right of the majority to rule our country and regain their stolen birthright, the wealth and land of our country”.
These aspirations of the people laid the foundation for the development of the Constitution of the Republic which poignantly echoes the call that, “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”. It further sets out the platform for co-existence and the minimum program for co-operation by all in our society. In this regard, the Constitution enjoins us to “Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;”