Gauteng celebrates the 25th Freedom Day in KwaThema
The event also honoured the late Eudy Simelane, a former Banyana Banyana and Springs Home Sweepers midfielder, who was raped and murdered in her hometown of KwaThema in 2008.
KwaThema – The 2019 Freedom Day Celebrations were held on Freedom Day at the KwaThema Stadium and was themed “Celebrating 25 years of Democracy”.
The event also honored the late Eudy Simelane, a former Banyana Banyana and Springs Home Sweepers midfielder, who was raped and murdered in her hometown of KwaThema in 2008.
Also Read : Eudy Simelane’s life celebrated at the 10th Ekurhuleni Pride on Saturday
Her former partner, Sibongile Vilakazi, was also at the celebrations, wearing a Pride flag over her shoulders.
“Today is bittersweet for me as it is my birthday but I am here to celebrate and remember someone I loved dearly, who was so brutally taken from me,” she says.
A soccer match between Banyana Banyana Legends, members of the mayor’s committee, premier David Makhura and mayor Mzwandile Masina, who scored the goal for the Ekurhuleni Legends Team, was played and ended in a 1 – 1 draw between the Ekurhuleni Legends and the Soweto Legends.
Makhura and Masina handed over posthumous awards to late members of the KwaThema LGBTQ+ community including Xolani Dlomo, Noxolo Nogwaza, Girly Nkosi, Mmamotsoe Matema, Eudy Simelane and her mother, Mally Simelane who died two weeks ago.
Speaking at the event, Masina says, “As we celebrate the great leaps that we have made in our democracy, we do so conscious that more work lies ahead”.
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Chief Glen Bennett who came to the celebrations from Eldorado Park highlighted the rights of Khoisan people to their land.
This comes after a Khoisan group started protesting outside the Union Buildings in November 2018 and can still be found there.
“Today is a great day to express your freedom but my people are still not free as our languages are not officially recognised and we don’t have our land which is why we have been outside the Union Buildings for five months and the President has still not engaged with us,” he says.
The celebrations included a children’s corner courtesy of the Department of Arts and Culture, Sports and Recreation Library and Information Services where children were entertained and taught of the importance of Freedom Day while their guardians enjoyed the main event.
Famous painter Rasta Sirenje was also at the event and says the honoring of Simelane is important.
“People are starting to be less discriminatory towards homosexual people. This event is taking it one step further in reminding us not to discriminate against our brothers and sisters,” he says.
The celebrations came 11 days before the fifth national democratic elections, to be held on May 8.
