Deputy Minister in the Presidency Kenny Morolong officially launched the provincial rollout of the Milestones of Freedom campaign on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, at the Philemon Masinga Sports Complex in Khuma township, delivering a powerful address that framed historical memory not as a passive backward glance, but as active resistance against injustice and a tool to conquer modern socioeconomic hardships.
Moving the focus away from a mere calendar of commemorations, Morolong declared that remembering South Africa’s journey is a profound national act required to heal ongoing wounds.
“This campaign is being commemorated through a year-long programme under the theme “Honouring the Past. Delivering the Future”. This theme perfectly captures the journey we have travelled as a nation: from the struggle against injustice to the struggle to continuously solidify are democratic gains.
“Throughout this year, we have visited provinces and communities to mobilise citizens to celebrate the gains, achievements and milestones of our 32 years of democracy. We have done this mindful of the challenges that still beset many of our communities,” said Morolong.
The year-long initiative, initially launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa, unites four defining historical pillars under the theme of honouring the past while delivering the future, specifically marking three decades of the Constitution, five decades since the 1976 youth uprising, seven decades since the 1956 Women’s March, and six decades since the trauma of forced removals from District Six.
Morolong channelled the philosophy of the late activist Don Mattera, emphasizing that memory must serve as a weapon to protect the truth of the liberation struggle from distortion or erasure. He pointed out that historical dispossessions under the Group Areas Act of 1950 were not limited to iconic areas like District Six, noting that the North West province suffered its own deep local scars.
“The late poet, journalist and activist Don Mattera taught us, through his seminal work Memory is the Weapon, that memory is not a passive act. It is a form of resistance. It is a weapon against forgetting, against distortion, and against erasing the struggles and sacrifices that made our democracy possible.
“It is in this spirit that the Milestones of Freedom Campaign must be understood. It is not merely a calendar of commemorations. It is a national act of remembrance that calls on us to recover the truth of our past, honour those who carried the burden of struggle, and use memory as a guide for the work that remains unfinished,” Morolong said.
Morolong highlighted the history of Makweteng, also known as Willem Klopperville, where a vibrant community endured decades of segregation before families were uprooted and forced into racially designated areas like Ikageng, Promosa, and Mohadin.
By linking national history to local realities, the campaign seeks to rally citizens to defend their constitutional rights while acknowledging the persistent tripod of poverty, inequality, and unemployment that still besets many South African communities.
To demonstrate the tangible impact of the democratic dispensation in reversing these historical injustices, Morolong pointed to major structural achievements in land restitution and public infrastructure. Since the inception of the land restitution process, the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights has settled over eighty-three thousand claims nationwide, representing historically dispossessed individuals.
The North West alone has recorded nearly four thousand settled land restitution claims, backed by a national government investment of fifty-eight billion rand in land purchases, grants, and financial compensation to support hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries.
Morolong argued that this progress proves the country’s democratic frameworks, anchored by a robust separation of powers and independent Chapter Nine institutions, are successfully delivering long-term socioeconomic justice and restoring human dignity.
The address also relied heavily on data from the Thirty-Year Review Report and recent household surveys to illustrate how the living conditions of ordinary citizens have transformed since 1994.
Nationally, household connectivity to the main electricity grid rose significantly over the last two decades to over ninety percent, a trend closely mirrored in the North West province where electricity access climbed from eighty-two percent to nearly ninety-one percent.
Furthermore, piped municipal water access expanded to over fifteen million households, while access to improved sanitation in the North West jumped from just over fifty-four percent to nearly seventy-nine percent.
Morolong noted that the expansion of social protection systems now benefits nearly forty percent of the national population, reinforcing the message that South Africa’s national memory must tell a balanced story of both the pain of the past and the measurable triumphs of the present.
