President Cyril Ramaphosa Praises South Africa’s 30 Year Progress Despite Challenges on Freedom Day

• President Cyril Ramaphosa has hit out at critics who did not believe that South Africa has changed for the better over the past 30 years
• Ramaphosa reflected on all the achievements that the country has made since becoming a democratic nation
• The statesman reflected on South Africa's journey over the past three decades during the Freedom Day celebrations at the Union Buildings in Pretoria

Trisha Pillay is a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg. With degrees in Journalism and International Politics, she delved into the intricacies of political landscapes at The Citizen newspaper, African News Network, and Newzroom Afrika. Pillay has also completed a training course from Google News Initiative.

PRETORIA - President Cyril Ramaphosa has criticised critics who believe that South Africa has not progressed since 1994

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Freedom Day reflection

Ramaphosa spoke at Freedom Day celebrations in Pretoria, marking 30 years of democracy in South Africa. He highlighted the country's big progress despite the challenges it faced.

Ramaphosa said:

"It is only those who willfully will not see, who shut their eyes to progress, who will deny that South Africa today is an infinitely better place than it was thirty years ago."

Since 1994, the economy has tripled, leading to a substantial increase in employment from eight million to over 16.7 million people.

Ramaphosa attributed this progress to affirmative action, broad-based black economic empowerment, worker-share ownership programs, and progressive labour laws. These efforts have brought about transformative change in the country.

He added:

"Our task over the last 30 years has been to bridge the huge divides of wealth and opportunity in our country –between black and white, between men and women, between urban and rural dwellers."

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South Africa celebrated 30 years of democracy on April 27. This year's Freedom Day theme was "30 Years of Democracy, Partnership, and Growth," which reflected how the government's ongoing work aims to include everyone.

Mzansi reflects on SA's progress

Many in the Rainbow Nation have talked about its rich history. Some notice the big changes in South Africa, but others think things have yet to improve, especially with a high unemployment rate and a struggling economy.

Read some of the reactions here:

@marksinthesouth joked:

"Lest not forget, lest not forgive."

@Push_back72 commented:

"Yes, let's practice English culture, such as the gun salute, because we're English."

@Vincent Skhosana said:

"The day people of South Africa can exercise their political power to directly elect a president, directly elect a mayor, directly elect a councillor and remove or vote out any representative when they fail to perform is a day democracy can be truly celebrated,"

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@D commented:

"Freedom of love and poverty being celebrated."

@DzanibeNhlanhla shared:

"What freedom, freedom without land, without economic freedom and jobs."

@Christiaan Hattingh commented:

"And 30 years later, we are still a mess."

7.9 million South Africans jobless

In a related story, Briefly News reported that Statistics SA revealed that the number of unemployed South Africans rose in the last quarter.

The unemployment rate went up from 31.9% to 32.1%, with almost eight million people now jobless.

The stats also showed that 22,000 employed South Africans lost their jobs in this period.

Source: Briefly News