“When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation. 

We did so knowing that the struggles against the injustice and inequities of the past are part of our national identity; they are part of our culture. We knew that, if indeed our nation has to rise like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes of division and conflict, we had to acknowledge those whose selfless efforts and talents were dedicated to this goal of non-racial democracy.” Nelson Mandela Mandela, 23 September 1996, Uitenhage in Eastern Cape

“Clearly, we have a responsibility to utilise the many positive attributes of Ubuntu to build a non-racial, non-sexist and united South Africa. We also have to use to better effect the values and ethos of Ubuntu in our Moral Regeneration Campaign. This we should do because I am confident that all South Africans, black and white, will agree that this value system should characterise a South African.” Thabo Mbeki, President of RSA, 24 September 2005 in Taung North West Province. 

“We have suffered the indignity and the pain of the failure by the apartheid government to acknowledge and affirm our culture, in its efforts to separate and marginalised our people and discredit our very roots.

But our roots are strong and reach far beyond the narrow confines of any system of oppression. The strength of our past, the depth and breadth of our pre-colonial history, and our ability to adapt and grow have nourished us. Today Africa is recognised as the cradle of mankind. In our part of the continent we have a rich and varied past that is only now being appreciated for its complexity and diversity. Indeed our heritage is the foundation from which we are working to rebuild our society.” Jacob Zuma, President of RSA, 24 September 1999 in Pretoria

“I believe that a truly democratic country is a country that uses the spiritual talents and the heritage of its people to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.” 

Our ancestors survived life in this extreme desert landscape because of their knowledge of the land, their ability to find and conserve water, their understanding of animals, as well as their vast knowledge of traditional plants and medicines. Indigenous knowledge too is part of our heritage” Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, Heritage Day 2019, Mxolisi Dicky Jacobs Stadium, Upington

Human Rights Day
21 March

Historical background

In 1952, the Native Laws Amendment Act extended Government control over the movement of Africans to urban areas and abolished the use of the Pass Book in favour of a reference book that had to be carried by all Africans at all times.

Failure to produce the reference book on demand was a punishable offence, so the Pan-African Congress proposed an anti-pass campaign to start on 21 March 1960. All African men were to refuse to show their passes and to present themselves for arrest.

Campaigners gathered at police stations near Johannesburg. At the Sharpeville police station a scuffle broke out and part of a wire fence was trampled, allowing the crowd to move forward. The police opened fire, killing 69 people and wounding 180.

What happened next

In apartheid South Africa, this day became known as Sharpeville Day and although it was not part of the official calendar of public holidays, the event was commemorated by anti-apartheid movements.

Then, in 1996, in post-apartheid South Africa, the Constitution provided for the establishment of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC); its aim: to promote respect for human rights; to protect, develop and attain of human rights; and to monitor and assess the observance of human rights in South Africa. 

The SAHRC was launched on 21 March 1996, 35 years after the fateful events of 21 March 1960, and this is why we celebrate Human Rights Day on this date.

Freedom Day
27 April

Historical background

Freedom Day commemorates the first democratic elections held in South Africa on 27 April 1994, and is a day for thinking about peace, unity and the preservation of human dignity. 

Special meaning today

Why is this so important? Because we no longer have a situation in which political power is exercised by a minority of our population, to the exclusion of the majority. Instead, we focus on the fact that, when South Africa was liberated, both the oppressor and the oppressed were liberated. South Africans are now ‘One people with one destiny’. 

On Freedom Day, we also celebrate the efforts of those who fought for liberation and those who are still fighting for the vital and fundamental objective of a better life for all. We commit ourselves to ensuring the defence of the sacred freedoms we have won and we remind ourselves that the guarantee of these freedoms requires permanent vigilance.

Workers’ Day
1 May 

Historical background

In January 1973, there was a strike by 2 000 workers from the Coronation Brick & Tile Works in Durban, who marched to a nearby football stadium chanting Filumuntu ufesidikiza (‘Man is dead, but his spirit lives’). The next day there was a stoppage at the A.J. Keeler transport company, spurring stoppages at other factories. By the end of January, all of Durban’s major industrial complexes were faced with a wave of strikes as factory after factory downed tools. In fact, by early February, 30 000 workers had embarked on strike action for higher wages and better working conditions. 

A global day of salute

So why isn’t workers’ day in January? 

Well, our government salutes the workers of South Africa on 1 May, which is celebrated by workers and people around the world. This international public holiday is a testimony to the hard battles that workers in this country and in other parts of the globe have waged for workers’ rights and social justice over many decades. It is also a reminder of the many challenges that still confront working people and the poor in South Africa.

The South African working class has led the struggle for a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, prosperous, united nation. It has understood that workplace struggles can’t be separated from broader social struggles; that economic justice and equality can’t be achieved without national liberation. And it has argued that these struggles can’t be separated from the struggle for gender equality and women’s emancipation. 

Youth Day
16 June

Historical background

In 1975, protests started in African secondary schools after a came directive from the Bantu Education Department that Afrikaans had to be used on an equal basis with English as a language of instruction.

The issue, however, was not so much the Afrikaans as the whole system of Bantu education – which was characterised by separate schools and universities, poor facilities, overcrowded classrooms and inadequately trained teachers.

On 16 June 1976, more than 20 000 pupils from Soweto began a protest march and in the wake of clashes with the police, and the violence that ensued, about 700 people, many of them youths, were killed. 

What happened next

This day, 16 June, became known as ‘Soweto Day’ – but today, we call it ‘Youth Day’.

National Women’s Day
9 August

Historical background

On 9 August 1956, over 20 000 women of all ages and races from across South Africa participated in a national march against the hated Pass laws that proposed restrictions on their movements. They marched together towards the Union Buildings in Pretoria. 

Many women wore traditional clothing, while others displayed the green, black and gold of the African National Congress. Some of the women marched with babies on their backs, or were accompanied by small children – both black and white.

The women concluded their demonstration by singing freedom songs like Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika and a new song which became not only the anthem of the march, but also the credo of South African women: ‘If you strike a woman, you strike a rock.’ 

The situation today

Today, Women’s Day is an opportunity to reflect on the status of women and the advances made since that historical day when South African women organised one of the largest and most successful protests in the country’s history. 

Even though the issues that concerned women then were very different to the issues facing women in modern-day South Africa, the background of the 1956 march has helped women to organise themselves to take up the challenges of the day. 

Heritage Day
24 September

Heritage Day, one of our recently declared public holidays, focusing on recognising aspects of South African culture that are both tangible and difficult to pin down: creative expression, our historical inheritance, language, the food we eat and the land in which we live.

Heritage has been defined as ‘that which we inherit: the sum total of wildlife and scenic parks, sites of scientific or historical importance, national monuments, historic buildings, works of art, literature and music, oral traditions and museum collections…’

Government determines a theme for each year’s celebrations. Within a broader social and political context, the day’s events have been a powerful way to encourage a unified South African identity, foster reconciliation and promote the idea that variety is a national asset.

The first Heritage Day commemoration took place on 24 September 1995

“When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation.We did so knowing that the struggles against the injustice and inequities of the past are part of our national identity; they are part of our culture. We knew that, if indeed our nation has to rise like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes of division and conflict, we had to acknowledge those whose selfless efforts and talents were dedicated to this goal of non-racial democracy.”

-Former President Nelson Mandela

 “We must work to rediscover and claim the African heritage, for the benefit especially of our young generations. From South Africa to Ethiopia lie strewn ancient fossils, which, in their stillness, speak still of the African origins of all humanity. Recorded history and the material things that time left behind also speak of Africa*s historic contribution to the universe of philosophy, the natural sciences, human settlement and organization and the creative arts. Being certain that not always were we the children of the abyss, we will do what we have to do to achieve our own Renaissance. We trust that what we will do will not only better our own condition as a people, but will also make a contribution, however small, to the success of Africa’s Renaissance, towards the identification of the century ahead of us as the African Century.”

-President Thabo Mbeki (taken from him his inaugural speech)

25 November – 10 December

The Global 16 Days Campaign is an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls. 

The 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children Campaign is a United Nations campaign, which is held annually from 25 November (International Day for No Violence Against Women) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day). Other key commemorative days observed annually during this 16-day period include World Aids Day on 1 December and the International Day for Persons with Disabilities on 3 December.