Freedom Day commemorates the first post-apartheid non-racial national elections (1994).
27 April – Freedom Day Freedom Day commemorates the first post-apartheid non-racial national elections (1994). Under the apartheid government, people of colour were not allowed to vote. After the 1994 elections, Nelson Mandela appointed Justice Albie Sachs as one of the first members of the Constitutional Court. As part of this role, he helped draft South Africa’s now highly valued Constitution which is considered to be one of the most modern and advanced constitutions in the world. It declares that “everyone is equal before the law”, and prohibits discrimination on the grounds of “race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth”. Before getting to this point, Justice Sachs played a prominent part in the struggle for justice in South Africa, and suffered at the hands of the previous government. He was subjected to solitary confinement, torture and sl...