THREE DECADES OF 'FREEDOM' THE SOUTH AFRICA OF TODAY

On April 27th 1994, there was excitement across South Africa as millions of South Africans queued up outside polling stations to participate in the country’s first democratic election, in which citizens of all races were allowed to participate.

It was more than just an election. Many saw it as the final nail into the coffin of a system that had oppressed Black South Africans since 1652 when Dutch colonialist Jan Van Riebeck arrived at the shores of modern-day South Africa.

As widely expected, the African National Congress (ANC), the country’s most prominent liberation movement, convincingly won the election.
After decades of bloody struggle, the ANC finally transitioned from a liberation movement to the country’s new rulers.

Hopefulness was in the air, free at last, or so they thought!

Three decades later, many are asking if that transition delivered and met the hopes and aspirations of the masses who stood in the long queues outside voting booths in 1994.

African Stream has been on the ground in South Africa, examining the country’s painful past and the long road to freedom and how its indigenous population feel three decades after the end of apartheid. Please watch and give us your thoughts in the comments.