On April 27 1994, our country held the first ever nonracial elections.

For the majority of black people, and Africans in particular, those elections set the stage for the resolutions of more than three centuries of abnormalities imposed on our people by the system of apartheid colonialism.

Since 1994, a lot has been done to set in motion systems designed to maximise the participation of our people in the governance of their country.

The municipal integrated development plans meetings, cabinet imbizos, etc are among mechanisms implemented by the democratic government to ensure full participation of our people in determining their own destiny.

Our country is among the community of nations with strong political and administrative systems that support our democracy.

On top of public participation structures, our country also boasts an independent judiciary and Chapter 9 institutions to safeguard the interest of our people against the abuse of power by powerful groupings, and has earned respect for establishing a democratic system that is among the best in the world.

It is, however, important to understand that the struggle for freedom was not merely about establishing a system for the vote for a citizen.

Protracted struggles against colonialism and apartheid were primarily against dispossession of land and wealth by the settler community. It is within this logic that freedom means nothing if it cannot facilitate the return of land and national wealth to the ownership of our people as a whole.

The democratic government has done a lot. Working hand in hand with our people, it has recorded new and commendable progress in areas of social development. Today, no child can be out of school because parents are unable to afford school fees. Our government is currently providing fee-free education to all quintile 1-3 schools. Our grannies are also benefiting from the social welfare scheme. Free primary healthcare is available to the poor and higher education has been made more accessible to all, including African females. In essence, we have developed a very good social security system.

Despite notable progress, it is important that we address the fundamentals of colonialism to truly liberate ourselves.

Colonialism was first and foremost the system of class rule fiercely expressed through race. The fundamental form of oppression has always been class oppression while the dominant form has been race. In essence, minority whites dispossessed indigenous people of their belongings and started a psychological warfare to teach their own offspring and that of the oppressed that a black man is subhuman and can only perform duties of a civilised human under the watchful eye of the white master.

For the South African capitalist, most of production represented primitive accumulation in its earliest form. This accumulation was strengthened by the ruling white political elites of the time.

The total liberation of our people means a fundamental break from the previous socioeconomic disorder.

It represents people having access to land for both residential and productive purposes. It represents the ability of professional classes and strata to enter trades and professions of their choice without having to sell their labour to a capitalist at a rate determined by the buyer.