South Africa celebrates Freedom Day as marches against Zuma go ahead

South Africa celebrates Freedom Day as marches against Zuma go ahead celebrations at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. JOHANNESBURG – South Africa celebrates 22 years of freedom on Wednesday, with celebrations to be held across the country. In 1994, South Africans voted in the country’s first democratic general elections, where black citizens were allowed to vote for the first time. This year, it's the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the constitution, the 40th anniversary of the June 16th uprising and the 60th anniversary of the Women’s March to the Union Buildings. President Jacob Zuma is expected to deliver a keynote address at today’s Freedom Day event in Giyani, Limpopo. This as Zuma Must Fall pickets are planned countrywide, with Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban being the epicentres of the protests. Former politicians and religious leaders gathered at venues across the country last weekend to plan their campaigns. This comes after the Constitutional Court judgment declaring that Zuma failed to uphold and respect the constitution over the Nkandla debacle.   The Johannesburg event will place outside the steps of the provincial legislature in the CBD where the People’s Assembly will gather from 10am.   In Cape Town, the march will start at 11am Keizergracht Street and will proceed to Parliament where marchers plan to picket. Another organisation, Abahlali baseMjondolo (the shack dwellers movement), are calling for a boycott of the Freedom Day celebrations, saying the government has failed its people. The group are dissatisfied with the eThekwini municipality and have dubbed the event "Un-Freedom Day".