South Africa remembers an historic election every April 27. Here’s why this year is so poignant

By GERALD IMRAY
Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africans celebrate their “Freedom Day” every April 27. It’s the day they remember their country’s pivotal first democratic election in 1994 that announced the official end of the racial segregation and oppression of apartheid. Saturday is the 30th anniversary of the momentous vote when millions of Black South Africans decided their own futures for the first time. It was a fundamental right they had been denied by a white minority government. The first all-race election saw the previously-banned African National Congress party win overwhelmingly and made Nelson Mandela the country’s first Black president. The iconic moment is still marked but South Africa is changing again 30 years later.