ABSTRACT
Following the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC) and other political organisations in 1990, South Africa’s formerly disenfranchised black majority began to reap the rewards of their painful but ultimately victorious struggle for freedom. Gradually attaining greater control over the country’s economic and, more especially, its political future, those who led and supported this struggle against the Apartheid state’s violent disregard for human life and dignity have either participated in or witnessed numerous events aimed at celebrating South Africa’s transformation from minority to majority rule, especially after the country’s first democratic election, held in May 1994. The role these public spectacles have played in reaffirming the eroded sense of ownership and belonging not only of former exiles but also of those who lived through the Apartheid era, is inestimable.
