Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said that people who believe South Africa has not improved 31 years into democracy have forgotten about the country’s painful past.
Mantashe was speaking at the Freedom Day rally in Mpumalanga, where he stood in for President Cyril Ramaphosa, who came down with the flu.
The 27th of April marks the day South Africa held its first-ever democratic elections in 1994 after the fall of the apartheid government.
Freedom Day: A celebration of SA’s independence from apartheid - Mantashe
Polls have shown that most South Africans feel the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Mantashe said that whatever negative sentiment people have of the democratic government should not lead to believing life under apartheid and colonialism was better.
"We often hear people say, 30 years, nothing has changed or we are becoming worse. It means that some people feel that we have deteriorated, but we must remind ourselves and our people that before 1994, the government of the country served only 8% of the population; today it is serving every member of this population."
Mantashe said that 31 years is not enough time to reverse the impact of over three centuries of colonialism and apartheid.
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Updated: 29 April 2025 Tuesday
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