The colours of the South African flags were the theme of the day as highly respected political icons such as President Thabo Mbeki addressed the crowds with speeches of hope and relief.

Nkosi Sikelel’iAfrika, the South African national anthem, was sung quite a number of times prior to or after prayers of thanks.

This was all such an exhilarating experience to be part of, as I was constantly assured that the sad past of our people is exactly where it is supposed to be and where it will stay forever; in history.

This day has been marked as one of the important in the South African calendar since we first acquired democracy in 1994.

Each year big events all around the country are held to celebrate and honour this day where people are gathered together to hear speeches from our leaders and some entertainment.

One common thing I have picked up in all these events is that people are reminded how the black race used to be oppressed by the then ‘superior’ white race, , and how that was fought over years until freedom for the whole country was reached and equally enjoyed by every citizen of this country.

Well that is true, but any one can agree with me that oppression or the apartheid system is not the only monster that we needed to free our selves from but we were so eager to get rid of it that we neglected finding solutions to the other problems that were and are still harming our freedom.

I give applause and the due credit to our country for the excellent work we have done to be finally free.Then I also have a question; are we entirely free?

I see the issues that we neglected in the past creeping back into our society to haunt us. Strange enough I can’t get my self to point at a certain person and blame them for this.

Taking a look around our country I see many unpleasant features that are still tightly binding our freedom and I silently wonder to my self if this is where we are heading, when our leaders worked so hard for us to enjoy freedom?

I am certain that when thousands of people queued to vote for a government of the choice on the 27 April in 1994 (hence the celebration of this day) the last thing on their minds was to be living in a crime struck country and yet call themselves free.

It is so sad how I can still notice traces of racism, prejudices, stereotypes and discrimination in our country.

What’s even more heart-shattering is that these evils are what lead to our cold past.

I was pleased to learn from my history studies that the oppressed people used team work and spirit to fight the apartheid.

The formula they used could still work perfectly well if it can be again utilised to fight the freedom-eating monsters we forgot to demolish in the past like, homophobia, xenophobia, racism and prejudice.

Having asked you, my fellow South African, if we are free yet, I am going to urge you to please join hands with the person next to you and fight to gain our entire freedom.

It starts by trying to understand the next person and their motive for their behaviour.