{"id":33118,"date":"2026-04-27T14:39:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33118"},"modified":"2026-04-27T14:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:39:22","slug":"ramaphosa-describes-sas-first-democratic-election-as-the-birth-of-new-nation","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/ramaphosa-describes-sas-first-democratic-election-as-the-birth-of-new-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa describes SA&#8217;s first democratic election as the birth of new nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">South African (SA) President Cyril Ramaphosa has described SA&#8217;s first democratic election as the birth of a new nation, marking a historic moment when about 20 million people voted for the first time in 1994.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Speaking in Bloemfontein, Free State Province, Ramaphosa led this year&#8217;s Freedom Day commemorations, paying tribute to the thousands who lost their lives in the struggle against apartheid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">He emphasised that while freedom is now a shared national achievement, the pain and suffering endured remain an unevenly remembered chapter of the country&#8217;s past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Observed under the theme, &#8220;Freedom and the Rule of Law: Thirty Years of Democratic Citizenship,&#8221; the commemoration brings together government, civil society and various sectors, united in celebrating SA&#8217;s democratic journey while reflecting on the work that still lies ahead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UIxx2Y1YfEE?si=9wCBi102oOR3CLRv\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15178,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-33118","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Ramaphosa has described SA's first democratic election as the birth of a new nation","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33119,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33118\/revisions\/33119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}