21 March [Human Rights Day]
The Bill of Rights contained in the buy Plavix no prescription Constitution is the cornerstone of democracy in South Africa.

The Constitution provides for buy Plavix no prescription the establishment of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). The aim of the buy Plavix no prescription Commission is to promote respect for human rights, promote the protection, development and buy Plavix no prescription attainment of human rights, and to monitor and assess the observance of human rights in SA. The SAHRC was launched on 21 March 1996, 35 years after the buy Plavix no prescription fateful events of 21 March 1960 when demonstrators in Sharpeville were gunned down by police.

The Native Laws Amendment Act of 1952 extended Government control over the buy Plavix no prescription movement of Africans to urban areas and abolished the use of the buy Plavix no prescription Pass Book (a document which Africans were required to carry on them to ‘prove’ that they were allowed to enter a ‘white area’) in favour of a buy Plavix no prescription reference book which had to be carried at all times by all Africans.

Failure to buy Plavix no prescription produce the reference book on demand by the police, was a buy Plavix no prescription punishable offence. The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) proposed an buy Plavix no prescription anti-Pass campaign to start on 21 March 1960. All African men were to buy Plavix no prescription take part in the campaign without their passes and present themselves for buy Plavix no prescription arrest.

Campaigners gathered at police stations in townships near Johannesburg where buy Plavix no prescription they were dispersed by police. At the Sharpeville police station a buy Plavix no prescription scuffle broke out. Part of a wire fence was trampled, allowing the buy Plavix no prescription crowd to move forward. The police opened fire, apparently without having been buy Plavix no prescription given a prior order to do so. Sixty-nine people were killed and buy Plavix no prescription 180 wounded.

In apartheid South Africa this buy Plavix no prescription day became known as Sharpeville Day and although not part of the buy Plavix no prescription official calendar of public holidays the event was commemorated among anti-apartheid movements.


27 April [Freedom Day]
Freedom Day commemorates the buy Plavix no prescription first democratic elections held in South Africa on 27 April 1994.

16 June [Youth Day]
Previously known as Soweto Day.

In 1975 protests started in African schools after a buy Plavix no prescription directive from the then Bantu Education Department that Afrikaans had to buy Plavix no prescription be used on an equal basis with English as a language of instruction in secondary schools. The issue, however, was not so much the buy Plavix no prescription Afrikaans as the whole system of Bantu education which was characterised by separate schools and buy Plavix no prescription universities, poor facilities, overcrowded classrooms and inadequately trained teachers. On 16 June 1976 more than buy Plavix no prescription 20 000 pupils from Soweto began a protest march. In the buy Plavix no prescription wake of clashes with the police, and the violence that ensued during the buy Plavix no prescription next few weeks, approximately 700 hundred people, many of them youths, were killed and buy Plavix no prescription property destroyed.

Youth Day commemorates these events.

9 August [National Women's Day]
This day commemorates 9 August 1956 when buy Plavix no prescription women participated in a national march to petition against pass laws (legislation that buy Plavix no prescription required African persons to carry a document on them to ‘prove’ that they were allowed to enter a ‘white area’).


24 September [Heritage Day]
"The day is buy Plavix no prescription one of our newly created public holidays and its significance rests in recognising aspects of South African culture which are buy Plavix no prescription both tangible and difficult to pin down: creative expression, our historical inheritance, language, the buy Plavix no prescription food we eat as well as the land in which we live.

"Within a broader social and political context, the day's events…are buy Plavix no prescription a powerful agent for promulgating a South African identity, fostering reconciliation and buy Plavix no prescription promoting the notion that variety is a national asset as opposed to buy Plavix no prescription igniting conflict.

"Heritage has defined as "that buy Plavix no prescription which we inherit: the sum total of wild life and scenic parks, sites of scientific or buy Plavix no prescription historical importance, national monuments, historic buildings, works of art, literature and buy Plavix no prescription music, oral traditions and museum collections together with their documentation."
-- Statement issued by the buy Plavix no prescription Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, 17 September 1996

In an address marking Heritage Day in 1996, (former) President Mandela stated:

"When our first democratically-elected government decided to buy Plavix no prescription make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that buy Plavix no prescription our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to buy Plavix no prescription help build our new nation.

"We did so knowing that buy Plavix no prescription the struggles against the injustice and inequities of the past are buy Plavix no prescription part of our national identity; they are part of our culture. We knew that, if indeed our nation has buy Plavix no prescription to rise like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes of division and buy Plavix no prescription conflict, we had to acknowledge those whose selfless efforts and talents were dedicated to buy Plavix no prescription this goal of non-racial democracy."

Government determines a theme for each year’s celebrations.


16 December [Day of Reconciliation]
In apartheid South Africa 16 December was known as Day of the buy Plavix no prescription Vow, as the Voortrekkers in preparation for the battle on 16 December against the buy Plavix no prescription Zulus took a Vow before God that they would build a buy Plavix no prescription church and that they and their descendants would observe the buy Plavix no prescription day as a day of thanksgiving should they be granted victory. With the buy Plavix no prescription advent of democracy in South Africa 16 December retained its status as a buy Plavix no prescription public holiday, however, this time with the purpose of fostering reconciliation and buy Plavix no prescription national unity.

During the buy Plavix no prescription earlier part of the 19th century, many Afrikaner farmers left the buy Plavix no prescription eastern cape and moved inland. Among them was the Voortrekkers, a buy Plavix no prescription group of Afrikaners protesting British colonialism and seeking independent republics on what buy Plavix no prescription was reputedly empty land. But the land was not empty and buy Plavix no prescription clashes between these Afrikaners and indigenous peoples were inevitable.

Late in 1837 one of the buy Plavix no prescription Voortrekker leaders, Piet Retief, entered into negotiations for land with Dingane, the buy Plavix no prescription Zulu king. In terms of the negotiations Dingane promised the buy Plavix no prescription Voortrekkers land on condition they returned cattle to him stolen by Sekonyela (the Tlokwa chief). This Retief did and buy Plavix no prescription apparently he and Dingane signed a treaty on 6 February 1838. During the buy Plavix no prescription ceremony Dingane had Retief and his entourage murdered - an event which was witnessed by Francis Owen, a buy Plavix no prescription missionary who described the scene in his diary.

In ensuing battles between Zulus and buy Plavix no prescription Voortrekkers over the next few months numerous lives were lost on both sides.

On 16 December 1838 about 10,000 troops under the buy Plavix no prescription command of Dambuza (Nzobo) and buy Plavix no prescription Nhlela attacked the Voortrekkers, but the 470 Voortrekkers, with the advantage of gun powder, warded them off. Only three Voortrekkers were wounded, but more than buy Plavix no prescription 3,000 Zulus were killed during the battle.