“[E]ach one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld…
That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict, and as we saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world, precisely because it has become the universal base of the pernicious ideology and practice of racism and racial oppression.
We, the people of South Africa, feel fulfilled that humanity has taken us back into its bosom, that we, who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege to be host to the nations of the world on our own soil…
The time for the healing of the wounds has come.
The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.
The time to build is upon us…
We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity – a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.”
Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Address, May 9, 1994
National Holidays:
New Year’s Day (January 1)
Human Rights Day (March 21)
Good Friday (Friday before Easter)
Family Day / Easter Monday (Day after Easter)
Freedom Day (April 27)
Workers’ Day (May 1)
Youth Day (June 16)
Women’s Day (August 9)
Heritage Day / Braai Day (September 24)
Day of Reconciliation (December 16)
Christmas (December 25)
Day of Goodwill (December 26)
Other Holidays and Celebrations:
Tweeda Newa Jaar / Second New Year (January 2)
Nelson Mandela’s Birthday (July 18)
