Notinmyname Honours Those Who Broke Chains of Apartheid

By Themba Masango
Notinmyname International secretary general

On this Freedom Day, we at NotInMyName International stand with all South Africans in commemorating the historic dawn of democracy in 1994.

We honour the courage of those who sacrificed everything to break the chains of apartheid.

That first democratic vote remains a triumph of the human spirit, and we celebrate every citizen’s right to walk, speak, and live with dignity that was once violently denied.

But celebration without honest reckoning is hollow.

Thirty-two years into freedom, we must lament the profound missed opportunities to build an economically free and progressive society. The promise of liberation included land, housing, jobs, and shared prosperity.

Instead, we see a persistent racialised economy, staggering youth unemployment, and an elite that has captured the state’s resources while too many live in shacks without running water.

Economic freedom has not arrived.

The structural pillars of apartheid’s wealth distribution remain largely intact, and progressive policies have too often been sacrificed to corruption and short-term political gain.

Further, we issue a sober caution against South Africa’s high crime rate a crisis that has itself become a form of unfreedom.

No family should live behind fortified walls.

No child should fear walking to school.

No woman should face the daily terror of gender-based violence, which the state has failed to stem despite fine words.

Crime corrodes trust, strangles investment, and traps communities, especially the poor, in a perpetual state of fear.

This is not the society we bled for.

We call on all leaders in government, business, and civil society to treat economic stagnation and violent crime as national emergencies equal to any past struggle.

Freedom Day must not become a ritual of empty speeches.

It must be a day of recommitment: to land and livelihood, to safety and justice, and to a truly progressive South Africa where nobody is left behind.