President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa's freedom was inherited from various struggle stalwarts in the Eastern Cape.
He was addressing hundreds of supporters at the Miki Yili Stadium in Joza Township in Makhanda - formerly Grahamstown - during Freedom Day celebrations on Saturday.
The president paid tribute to struggle heroes, including Sarah Baartman, Steve Biko, OR Tambo, Winnie Madizikela-Mandela, Albertina Sisulu and Nelson Mandela, who he said, made sacrifices for the country so that many could enjoy freedom.
Ramaphosa said Freedom Day provided the nation with an opportunity to reflect on how South Africa’s freedom and democracy was achieved, and on the role all South Africans could play in growing the country together in the future.
He also paid tribute to those who died in recent floods in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal as well as those who died in African countries struck by Cyclone Idai.
Ramaphosa said the price paid for freedom was too high, for the country to see acts of intolerance and racial attacks and rejecting people who had come to seek refuge in South Africa.
He said the country embraced all those who came to seek refuge in it.
