As South Africans take advantage of the long weekend, what does today’s public holiday mean? What significance lays on December 16?
What many don’t realise, is that December 16 has great significance and links two historical moments in South Africa’s history. Both moments taking place on the same day, in two entirely different eras.
During the apartheid era, December 16 was known as the Day of the Vow. This day was formed when in preparation for the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838 against the Zulus, the Voortrekkers made a vow before God.
The vow was if they won the battle, they would build a church and they and their descendants would observe the day as a day of thanksgiving. Winning the battle, the Voortrekkers honoured their vow and it is then that the Day of the Vow was born.
The second historical event took place on 16 December 1961, 123 years after the Voortrekkers made their vow. This is the day when Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC), came into creation.
MK performed acts of sabotage in the quest to bring the apartheid regime to an end. While the group’s effectiveness was hampered by organizational problems and the arrest of its leaders in 1963, its formation was commemorated every year since 1961.
Under the dawn of democracy in South Africa, December 16 retained its status as a public holiday.
With South Africa’s first non-racial and democratic government tasked with promoting reconciliation and national unity, an idea was born.
To acknowledge the significance of December 16 in both the Afrikaner and liberation struggle traditions, the day was renamed the Day of Reconciliation and celebrated for the first time on 16 December 1995.
It is a day which reminds South Africans to learn how to acknowledge the errors of the past and to unite as a nation, moving forward and growing stronger together.
