A national public holiday in South Africa that commemorates the first post-apartheid elections held on that day in 1994, marking the end of the apartheid system and the beginning of a new era.

South Africa’s apartheid system was a system of racial segregation that existed in the country from 1948 until the early 1990s. It was characterised by discrimination, oppression and violence against non-white South Africans, particularly Black people. A long, painful struggle that included protests, boycotts and international pressure brought the system to an end.