Every year, January 8 is African National Congress Foundation Day. Africans fought against British and Boer colonizers with spears on this day for their rights. In the ANC, this day represents a struggle for freedom and justice. Since April 1994, the African National Congress has consistently been in power. John Langalibalele Dube founded the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) in Bloemfontein on 8 January 1912. Its primary purpose was to give black and mixed-race Africans the right to vote or to unite Africans and lead the struggle for fundamental political, social, and economic change.
African National Congress Foundation Day: History
As a national liberation movement, the African National Congress (ANC) was founded in 1912. On this day, Africans around the world united to demand their rights. They called for fundamental political, economic, and social change. After ten decades of oppression and racism, they finally got their rights.
ANC finally achieved democracy in 1994 by receiving a mandate to draft a new democratic constitution for South Africa and its people. In addition, the new constitution came into effect in 1996. With the goal of improving South Africans’ lives, the ANC was again elected as a national and provincial government in 1999.
African National Congress Foundation Day: Significance
The Day marked the end of centuries of exploitation and humiliation suffered by the African people. In Bloemfontein, the organization was initially formed as the South African Native National Congress. All black South Africans aimed at uniting and achieving their rights and freedoms through this organization. As a result, the National Party government in 1948 introduced apartheid and voting rights.