South Africa marked its 2023 annual Heritage Day on Sunday September 24 with colourful traditional garbs. It is a celebration of the cultural wealth of the nation.
Officials urged South Africans to always cherish their culture and diversity. The annual holiday is also an opportunity to bond across traditional lines, fostering national unity and projecting South Africa as a nation that belongs to every South African.
In his address, South African, David Mabuza described the celebration as ''a unique history that has inspired many nations towards embracing unity and diversity, and showing that difference can be a platform for development and not destruction and divisions.''
Historically, the day is known as Shaka Day for most people in commemoration of Shaka, the Zulu King of southern Africa, on the presumed date of his death in 1828.
An initial Public Holidays Bill presented to the post-Apartheid Parliament of South Africa in 1996 did not include September 24 on the list of proposed public holidays.
The bill was rejected by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), a South African political party with a large Zulu membership in the South African parliament.
After consultations with the government, the bill was amended and passed into law bearing its present title and accepted as a public holiday now known as Heritage Day.
