Durban - When I was posted as a junior reporter for the Daily News to Ulundi, the capital of the then IFP KwaZulu-Natal government, to cover our historic 1994 elections, I found myself praying a lot in the days leading up to that huge moment.
Excitement was in the air around this time, 26 years ago. But dread and tensions were rising in KZN. People continued to die. As those of us old enough dusted up our ID documents, Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi and his supporters were having none of it.
Fortunately, the then powerful IFP joined in at the 11th hour and helped build a new nation.
As we approach Freedom Day, I say a prayer of thanks for April 27, 1994, and the days and years that followed. But I can also feel that tension, that hung in the air of Ulundi.
We are counting down to the return to work and to our “new normal”.
Back in 1994, powerful strongmen of politics and business compromised and sacrificed so that South Africa could be saved.
They decided to believe in the dream of a new, better South Africa. This time calls for similar united, selfless action.
President Cyril Ramaphosa took another big, bold step forward for South Africa this week, with his R500bn Covid-19 relief package.
It alone is not enough to save South Africa. Other leaders need to play their part. And the rest of us should play our parts, as we did in 1994.