ANC celebrations the adoption of the Freedom Charter

26 June 2023

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the Freedom Charter. This milestone laid the basis for the country's democratic Constitution, anchored on the people's will and deepening democracy as a catalyst for development and socio-economic transformation.

In 1955 delegates from across the country gathered in Kliptown at the Congress of the People to adopt the Freedom Charter. This document belongs to the people of South Africa and was a successor to the historic 1952 Defiance Campaign.

The Freedom Charter contains key principles. When the 1996 democratic Constitution was developed, it reflected key principles from which the state advances development based on the people's will.

In advancing the cause of building a truly non-racial, non-sexist, unitary, democratic state and improving the quality of life of all South Africans, the Freedom Charter is a call for all South Africans to be patriots and participate in nation-building.

The Freedom Charter's interrelatedness with the democratic Constitution is a pedestal from which to accelerate socio-economic transformation, thus benefitting the people, promoting and protecting rights and instilling a corresponding responsibility in developing a democratic social order.

Since 1994 the ANC-led government has passed progressive legislation to advance principles contained in the Freedom Charter. These principles range from free quality education, regular elections for the legitimacy of the state based upon the will of the people, equality of languages, national groups and cultures, land ownership and food security, wealth distribution and equal benefit from the economy, access and equality before the law to work and security.

The ANC, together with South Africans, celebrates this historical milestone and recommits to pushing forward and living up to the ideals of the Freedom Charter.

Issued by Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, National Spokesperson, ANC, 26 June 2023