South Africa’s democracy must be measured by its ability to improve people’s daily lives, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday as the country marked 32 years since its first democratic elections.
Delivering the Freedom Day address in Bloemfontein, Ramaphosa said the promise of freedom must be reflected in “material change in people’s lives”. Dignity depended on access to basic services such as water, electricity, housing and healthcare.
He said government priorities included strengthening municipalities, improving service delivery, investing in infrastructure and driving economic reforms aimed at reducing unemployment and inequality.
“The truest test of our democracy is whether freedom translates into material change in people’s lives,” Ramaphosa said.
The government continued to work towards building a “capable, ethical and developmental state”, while intensifying efforts to combat corruption and violent crime.
Ramaphosa highlighted interventions to stabilise state-owned enterprises, including Eskom and Transnet, which he said were critical to economic recovery and job creation.
On social services, he reaffirmed plans to expand access to healthcare through the National Health Insurance system and strengthen education support programmes such as the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and school nutrition schemes.
Freedom Day statements from political parties focused on unemployment, governance failures and the effectiveness of local government.
The African Transformation Movement (ATM) said Freedom Day should serve as a reminder that political freedom had not translated into economic justice for many South Africans.
The party cited labour force data by Statistics South Africa showing that youth unemployment stood at about 43.8% among people aged 15 to 34 in late 2025. The ATM described it as evidence of widespread economic exclusion.
The ATM said millions of young people remained without access to meaningful economic participation and called for greater inclusion of youth in both political and economic decision-making processes.
“What does freedom mean to a graduate without work?” the party said in its statement, arguing that economic transformation remained incomplete nearly three decades into democracy.
RISE Mzansi said the upcoming 2026 local government elections would be decisive in determining whether municipalities could deliver basic services effectively.
It noted that many local governments continued to face corruption, weak administrative capacity and infrastructure breakdowns that affected water supply, electricity provision and service delivery.
The failure of municipalities had undermined the constitutional promise of dignity and equality, particularly in poorer communities, it said.
RISE Mzansi proposed what it called a “Pact with the People”, which included merit-based appointments in local government, improved financial management systems and stronger oversight of procurement processes to reduce corruption.
The party also called for investment in community safety and measures to support small business growth by reducing regulatory barriers that it said hindered job creation at local level.
Freedom Day is commemorated annually on 27 April to mark South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994 and the formal end of apartheid rule.
While the government and opposition parties differed in their assessment of progress since 1994, all highlighted unemployment and service delivery as central challenges facing the country’s next phase of democracy.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa’s democracy must be measured by its ability to deliver real, material improvements in people’s lives