Published by Civicus 3 October 2018

Republished with permission from Civicus Media

By William Gumede

Let’s imagine for a moment that aliens had visited South Africa in late 1993, abducted an ordinary South African, then returned him or her home exactly 25 years later.

The abductee might very well be shocked at how our democracy project has turned out – at all the changes we’ve gone through and where the country is today, particularly politically. But among the things they would see as having largely maintained course in that time, would be the role and impact of civil society.

As we celebrate our diverse cultures on Heritage Day, worth celebrating also is a civil society culture that has not only promoted cultural diversity but that is itself diverse, with a hard-won heritage of tirelessly fighting for the rights of the people in this country.