Photo: SABC
As South Africa celebrates its twentieth anniversary as a democratic country, there is a lot of anticipation as to what the ruling party has got lined up for the celebrations they have earmarked for the whole country on Sunday.
To set the tone for these celebrations, the world’s oldest and most recognized monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, sent a congratulatory message to the head of government in South Africa, Jacob Zuma, in which she congratulated the country on attaining twenty years of democracy. She added that there has been a great and healthy relationship between her country, family and the South African government and she further expressed hope that this would continue into the future. Adding his name to the list of well wishers, the British Prime Minister David Cameron, reiterated the hope that the healthy relationship that exists between the two countries would continue into the foreseeable future.
However, things are not as rosy on the home front. Many have expressed discontent about the way the country is going of late. Leading this fight is the former ANC Youth League president and current leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Julius Malema. Known for his no holds barred stance against his former master and mentor, Zuma, Malema has characteristically not held back in his address at a rally in the Western Cape. Addressing his party’s rally in Mitchell’s Plain in the Western Cape on Saturday, Malema said that as long as the people did not have his dignity, then they had nothing to celebrate. He urged the supporters to stage a stay away from all the celebrations that had been lined up for the celebrations of two decades of democratic rule. He further cited the fact that most people in the rural areas did not have access to flushing toilets and that the EFF advert had been banned from being aired on national television. This, he said, showed that the country was not accommodating to democratic elections .
