South Africa's Freedom Day marking end of apartheid commemorated in Iran

The 29th anniversary of South Africa's Freedom Day was commemorated on Saturday in Iran during a ceremony held in the capital Tehran.

The ceremony was hosted by the South African Ambassador Vika Mazwi Khumalo and heads of the country’s diplomatic missions.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mahdi Safari took part in the ceremony.

Freedom Day is a public holiday in South Africa celebrated on 27 April. It commemorates the first post-apartheid elections held on that day in 1994.

During the ceremony, the South African envoy to Iran called Freedom Day the most important day in the country's calendar. "It marks the liberation of our country and its people from the vicious shackles of colonialism and apartheid... April 27 1994 marks the first time in a long history that the majority of South Africans were freed from oppression...and won the right to vote as one indivisible nation..."

"The achievement of this Freedom was a long and hard-fought struggle, which could not have been possible without the support of many other countries, amongst others, the five Front-Line States in Southern Africa, and of course Cuba, the then Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries as well as the anti-apartheid movement in Europe and the US, including the punitive sanctions imposed by the UN," he added.

The term “apartheid” was originally used to refer to a political system in South Africa which explicitly enforced racial segregation, and the domination and oppression of whites over blacks.

Apartheid, which is also practiced by the Israeli regime against Palestinians, is a violation of international law and human rights.

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