Monday, 16 December 2024.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) notes the so-called Day of Reconciliation not as a celebration but as a reflection of the betrayal of Black South Africans and the ANC’s capitulation to white supremacy. This day, touted as a unifying moment for a fractured nation, is a reminder of how transformation in South Africa has been rendered a farce, with the structures of apartheid firmly intact under the ANC’s watch.

The Day of Reconciliation, observed annually on December 16, was established in 1994, merging two starkly opposing histories. For Afrikaners, the date commemorated the Day of the Vow, a celebration of the Boers’ victory over the Zulu at the Battle of Blood River in 1838—a triumph steeped in the ideology of white racial superiority. For Black South Africans, the day symbolised the 1961 formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC, marking the start of the armed struggle against apartheid.

This day has been repurposed as a weak, symbolic gesture of reconciliation—one that erases the ongoing pain and struggle of the oppressed majority while sanitising the legacy of Afrikaner nationalism.

This betrayal mirrors the ANC’s broader failures and the decision to form a coalition with the Democratic Alliance (DA), the party of apartheid’s benefactor and peddlers of white supremacy. Meanwhile, Orania, a glaring relic of apartheid, exists unchallenged, a racist enclave that upholds white exclusion.

The dominance of Afrikaans continues to marginalise African learners in education, and legislative protections for white privilege are prioritised over the needs of Black South Africans. Even within the economy, Afrikaner capitalists manipulate political processes to maintain their grip, using President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC as instruments of exploitation.

The so-called reconciliation project is, therefore, nothing more than a facade. The ANC has abandoned its revolutionary duty to dismantle the structural legacy of apartheid, trading it instead for political power sustained by alliances with white supremacy. Transformation is a myth and this day, like the governance of the ANC, reflects the cowardice of a liberation movement that has betrayed the blood of the martyrs who fought for true emancipation.

The EFF unequivocally rejects the Day of Reconciliation as a compromise rooted in cowardice and betrayal. Reconciliation without justice, without the return of the land, and without dismantling white economic and political domination is a mockery. We call on all South Africans to recognise this day for what it is—a monument to the ANC’s betrayal of Black liberation—and to commit themselves to the struggle for genuine freedom and economic emancipation.

The EFF will never rest until true liberation is achieved—one that dismantles white supremacy, restores the land, and brings dignity to all the oppressed people of South Africa. Only then can reconciliation be meaningful.

ISSUED BY THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Leigh-Ann Mathys (National Spokesperson) 082 304 7572

Thato Lebyane (Media Enquiries) 078 304 7572