EFF Statement on Heritage Day 2026

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) wishes all South Africans a meaningful Heritage Day, a day which provides an opportunity to reflect on the histories, cultures, languages and traditions that have shaped the people of this country, but also on the kind of society we are becoming and the responsibilities we have towards one another.

The history of Heritage Day itself reflects the complexity of South Africa’s political past. The 24th of September was previously observed in KwaZulu-Natal as Shaka Day, in recognition of King Shaka. When the new democratic Parliament considered the public holiday calendar in 1994, the omission of Shaka Day was contested, and a compromise was reached to establish a national day through which South Africans could recognise and celebrate their diverse heritage. The first National Heritage Day was observed in 1995.

The significance of the day must therefore extend beyond the celebration of culture in its most superficial form. South Africa is a country whose history has been shaped by conquest, colonialism, apartheid, dispossession, and resistance, but also by the determination of its people to build a common future. Our heritage includes the languages we speak, the traditions we preserve and the cultures we practise, but it also includes the struggles of generations who fought against oppression and sought to create a society founded on human dignity and equality.

This is particularly important in the South Africa we confront today. We cannot speak meaningfully about unity and a common heritage while women continue to live with the fear of violence and femicide. The recent discovery of the bodies of nine women in Ekurhuleni has once again exposed the brutality of gender-based violence, while the Gender-Based Violence Command Centre recorded 6,782 calls between 1 and 16 September, a 21% increase from the average recorded in August. These are women, families and communities living with fear, grief, and insecurity. The crisis of violence against women speaks directly to the kind of society we claim to be building. A country cannot celebrate its heritage while women are unable to move freely and safely within their own communities. The protection of women and children, the effective functioning of the criminal justice system and the prosecution of perpetrators must be understood as part of the struggle to build a society worthy of the freedom that previous generations fought for.

At the same time, South Africa is witnessing the growth of Afrophobia and attacks against African migrants, with recent waves of violence and anti-migrant mobilisation targeting people from other African countries. This presents us with a profound contradiction. We cannot celebrate an African heritage while African people from other parts of the continent are treated as enemies. South Africa’s history is inseparable from the African continent. Our liberation struggle was supported by people and governments across Africa, and the borders that separate Africans today cannot erase the historical, cultural, and political bonds that connect us.

The EFF understands the frustrations that exist within working-class communities around unemployment, poverty, crime, failing public services and the competition for scarce economic opportunities. But these frustrations must not be manipulated into hatred of other Africans. The poor cannot be made to fight the poor while the structural causes of unemployment, inequality and economic exclusion remain unresolved. The state has a responsibility to secure the borders, enforce immigration laws and maintain public order, but this must never become a justification for vigilantism, collective punishment or the dehumanisation of African migrants.

Heritage Day must therefore be an opportunity to confront the divisions that continue to weaken our society. Racism, tribalism, xenophobia, and Afrophobia all undermine the possibility of building a genuinely united South Africa. So too does the economic inequality that leaves millions of people without decent work, quality education, adequate housing and meaningful access to the wealth of the country.

Our diversity should not be a source of permanent division. The different cultures and languages of South Africa must exist alongside a shared understanding that we are all participants in the future of this country. Unity does not require us to abandon our identities or histories. It requires us to recognise the dignity of others and to understand that no culture, ethnicity, language or nationality gives one person greater human worth than another.

The EFF believes that the strongest expression of heritage is not simply the preservation of the past, but the construction of a future in which the children of this country can inherit something better. They must inherit a South Africa where women are safe, where African people are not turned against one another, where young people have meaningful opportunities, where communities have functioning public services, and where the economy does not remain the preserve of a minority.

On this Heritage Day, we must therefore reflect on what binds us together at a time when there are powerful forces seeking to divide us.

Heritage must remind us that we are not merely inheritors of this country; we are responsible for what we leave behind. The measure of our commitment to a common South African identity must ultimately be found in whether we are prepared to defend the dignity, safety, and humanity of one another.

The EFF has faced scrutiny regarding its financial transparency and accountability.

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