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No Freedom Day Community Meeting
2026
The leader of the Afrika Mayibuye Movement Floyd Shivambu says 32 years after South Africa’s hard-won democracy and freedom, the rich are benefitting the most, in comparison to the country’s majority as envisaged by the Freedom Charter.
He argues that the African National Congress (ANC) failed in 30 years as a leader of society to deliver on the Freedom Charter core principles, which talks to, among others, “All national groups shall have equal rights”, “People shall share in the country’s wealth” and “There shall be work and security”.
Shivambu was addressing his movement’s “No Freedom Day” event at the Orlando Communal Hall in Soweto.
AFRIKA MAYIBUYE MOVEMENT
No Freedom Day Community Meeting
2026 pic.twitter.com/oZzipwXbYz— AFRIKA Mayibuye (@mayibuye_afrika) April 26, 2026
Afrika Mayibuye Movement is staging the event on the eve of the official Freedom Day festivities at the Dr. Petrus Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein, where President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the keynote address.
“Here in Soweto, this area has been a historic theatre of struggle against colonialism and apartheid. The Congress of the People took place just a few kilometres from here, where the Freedom Charter was adopted in 1955 – 70 years ago. It was there that the people of South Africa declared: “South Africa belongs to all who live in it,” says Shivambu.
VIDEO | Afrika Mayibuye Movement hosts a ‘No Freedom Day’ – Leader Floyd Shivambu addresses attendees
He adds that the Freedom Charter proclaimed that the doors of learning and culture shall be open to all. It further declared that the mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks, and monopoly industries shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole, for their benefit.
“Seventy years ago, the people of this country defined what freedom should mean. They made it clear that true freedom includes economic justice, ensuring that the wealth of the land benefits all, not just a few. As a result of the Freedom Charter, many activists were banned, arrested, and subjected to unfair trials, most notably during the Treason Trial,” he explains.
Shivambu says that in those proceedings, the apartheid government even used the Freedom Charter itself as evidence against those who fought for liberation, yet the Charter remained a rallying cry, a unifying vision that brought people together in the struggle against colonialism and apartheid.
“Today, we must ask: do we truly have democracy in South Africa? Many of our people still do not experience the full meaning of freedom. What exists often feels like freedom for a few, while many continue to suffer and remain excluded from the wealth and opportunities of our people,” he adds.
VIDEO | AMM | Creating jobs, Introduction of land reform programmes: Floyd Shivambu
