Uncomfortable truth
Neeshan Balton|Published
AS SOUTH Africa enters mid-2026, our democracy has reached an age that should signal maturity. Thirty-two years after 1994, the promise of freedom ought to feel settled and secure. Instead, it feels unresolved – less like a completed project and more like a draft still being contested by lived reality.
This is the uncomfortable truth of 2026: South Africa has achieved political freedom, but not yet freedom that feeds, protects and dignifies. For millions, the right to vote has not…