It is an honour for me to speak at this National Youth Day Commemoration hosted by the Free State as we mark the 47th anniversary of the June 16th uprising. This is a significant event in our nation's calendar because it allows us to pay tribute to the young men and women whose lives were cut short at the hands of the inhumane apartheid regime.
On the 27th of April 1994, South Africans of all races, languages and creeds stood in long winding queues to exercise the democratic right for which so many have fought and for which so many have sacrificed.
Today is a day on which we celebrate the great progress we have made as a nation in building a democracy that is founded on equal human rights for all people.
