Ironically, the commemoration programme was plagued by power cuts, which interrupted Ramaphosa's speech twice. This was despite Eskom's announcing the suspension of load shedding until further notice. In defense of the country's crippling power outages, Ramaphosa said: "Load shedding was permanent under the apartheid government. As we are dealing with load shedding, we know it will be solved. It will come to an end because we got a clear intention to do so:' The government has been drawing a lot of criticism since implementing deliberate power cuts to save the national energy grid from total collapse back in 2007. This year's Human Rights Day celebrations took place as the country is gearing up to go to the polls on May 29 considered the most important since 1994's historic elections. Ramaphosa said the elections which are held every five years in South Africa can be counted among the achievements of the freedom struggle and that they reflect the will of the people. Ramaphosa also lauded South Africa for hosting peaceful, free and fair elections. As we celebrate 30 years of freedom, we will reflect on the progress we have made. We do have much to celebrate. This new South Africa has changed for the better compared to the one pre1994:' said Ramaphosa. Counting the achievements of his government, the president said many people who had been relegated to poverty by the apartheid regime have been lifted out of poverty by the democratic government. Ramaphosa also claimed that there were fewer women dying during child birth and that the infant mortality rate had dropped sharply under the democratic era. He said the struggles and sacrifices of the freedom fighters helped bring about the achievements enjoyed today. Ramaphosa added that although many decades had passed since the Sharpeville massacre, the government still remembers the 69 protesters who were killed for fighting for their human rights with sorrow. In his message of support at the event, SA Human Rights Commission SAHRC chairperson Andrew Nissen revealed that racism remained the most reported human rights violation in SA. We deal with this a lot in our investigations and this work earns us both love and hate. We are often taken to court by people who fail to adhere to human rights:' Nissen also appealed to Ramaphosa whom he described as a chief defender of human rights to respect Chapter 9 institutions.

Source: The Citizen.