Within a broader social and political context, the dayвЂ™s eventsГўв‚¬В¦are a powerful agent for promulgating a South African identity, fostering reconciliation and promoting the notion that variety is a national asset as opposed to igniting conflict. вЂњThe day is one of our newly created public holidays and its significance rests in recognising aspects of South African culture which are both tangible and difficult to pin down: creative expression, our historical inheritance, language, the food we eat as well as the land in which we live.

This day commemorates 9 August 1956 when women participated in a national march to petition against pass laws (legislation that required African persons to carry a document on them to Гўв‚¬ЛњproveГўв‚¬в„ў that they were allowed to enter a Гўв‚¬Лњwhite areaГўв‚¬в„ў). In the wake of clashes with the police, and the violence that ensued during the next few weeks, approximately 700 hundred people, many of them youths, were killed and property destroyed. On 16 June 1976 more than 20 000 pupils from Soweto began a protest march. The issue, however, was not so much the Afrikaans as the whole system of Bantu education which was characterised by separate schools and universities, poor facilities, overcrowded classrooms and inadequately trained teachers. In 1975 protests started in African schools after a directive from the then Bantu Education Department that Afrikaans had to be used on an equal basis with English as a language of instruction in secondary schools. It originated from May Day, which was born from the industrial struggle for an eight-hour day. WorkersвЂ™ Day celebrates the role played by trade unions, the Communist Party and other labour movements in the struggle against apartheid. Read more about Freedom Day celebrations. В»В Download holidays in Outlook and iCal format HEREДЇreedom Day commemorates the first democratic elections held in South Africa on 27 April 1994.

2016 South African Public Holidays schedule so you never miss a holiday!ДЄdd all the South African Public Holidays for 2016 to your Outlook or other calendars automatically.

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