South Africa (SA) marks 32 years of freedom and some Gauteng Province residents believe more should be done to fight unemployment and corruption to ensure that more citizens are able to reap the rewards of freedom.

Numerous people used the Freedom Day long weekend to brush up on their history by visiting historic sites.

Soweto’s famous Vilakazi Street saw an increase in tourists this week, while the Freedom Park Heritage Site in Pretoria also was not spared.

At various heritage sites, self-employed locals eagerly showcase the country’s diverse cultures.

Brazil Tourist Thalis Limongi; “This is my first time in Soweto, but I didn’t imagine that Soweto was like this. It was a coincidence, we didn’t know that it was Freedom Day before we get here. So, it has been more special because being here near this important date is a very really interesting thing because it gave me another idea about the history.”

Some locals who have lived through the apartheid years believe, 32 years into freedom, SA have a lot to celebrate.

Many however cautioned that the country needs urgently to reign in on its escalating unemployment rate.

Resident Sipho Mawela: “It is good to be free and to be alive in the new SA where we live with harmony and freely, we have rights to start businesses, education, everything is free although our country is not doing so well with but everything else is nice. But everything else I would say it’s a disaster, unemployment, crime rate, corruption.”

–SABC–