South Africans welcome any public holiday with open arms, but do we know what certain public holidays such as Workers’ Day (May 1) stand for and are all about?
The government describes Workers’ Day as follows:
Originally born from the protracted struggle for workers’ rights and social justice of the late 1800s, Workers’ Day has been an international holiday in many countries since 1891. South Africa is a country with its own long and sordid history of labour and social conflicts. Workers’ Day has been officially recognised and observed since the first democratic elections in 1994. The holiday serves both as a celebration of workers’ rights and as a reminder of the critical role that trade unions, the Communist Party and other labour organisations played in the fight against apartheid.
Because South Africa’s working classes were those most oppressed by apartheid, the struggle for better working conditions and the struggle to overthrow systemic segregation became closely linked. Before the elections of 1994, labour and trade groups often used Workers’ Day as a symbol to rally the population against the segregation and oppression of the apartheid system, organising demonstrations and encouraging widespread resistance.
• Source: South African Government
