20 Year Review

South Africa is one of the 30 driest countries in the world, and millions of mostly rural people do not have access to clean running water. The state is working to bring water to everyone, though, and a waste water treatment works opened in Limpopo on 31 October is the latest in a list of interventions being undertaken.

South Africa is one of the 30 driest countries in the world, and millions of mostly rural people do not have access to clean running water. The state is working to bring water to everyone, though, and a waste water treatment works opened in Limpopo on 31 October is the latest in a list of interventions being undertaken.

As the country marks its first 20 years of freedom, Bathandwa Mbola reflects on how far we have come, and explains why she personally will be celebrating "being part of this big, vibrant and colourful family called South Africa".

Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane, speaking at the launch of the country's 2014 Freedom Month on Thursday, called on all South Africans to uphold the freedom the country has enjoyed since 1994, saying it "came at a tremendous cost and must be jealously guarded".

One of the triumphs of 20 years of democracy is that ordinary South Africans - of all races, irrespective of wealth, class or social standing - can now stand before an independent and transformed judiciary, writes former Constitutional Court judge Yvonne Mokgoro.

Compared with many emerging economies, South Africa "has a good story to tell" based on its achievements over the past 20 years, President Jacob Zuma said at the launch of the government's 20 Year Review in Pretoria on Tuesday.

In the space of just two decades, South Africa has gone from being a global pariah to an influential player in world affairs and a powerful advocate for global political and economic reform, the government's 20 Year Review finds.