As South Africa celebrates the adoption of the country’s democratic Constitution this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa is calling on citizens to remember to bring into reality the vision contained in the Constitution and its break with the apartheid system.

Monday marks apartheid South Africa cutting ties with the British empire and becoming a republic 60 years ago, an anniversary that Ramaphosa says most South Africans would rather not remember.

The Constitution of that era, which was created by and for a racial minority during apartheid, contained no Bill of Rights and used faith to justify tyranny, he added.

“This unhappy anniversary takes place in the same month that we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the adoption by the Constitutional Assembly of our new democratic Constitution, which became the birth certificate of a real united nation. Now we have one law for one nation. Together, we have chosen for ourselves a system of government that gives true meaning to the concept of a republic,” Ramaphosa said.

South Africans shared a common responsibility as State and citizens to respect, protect, promote and fulfill the Bill of Rights, he expressed.

Ramaphosa stressed that elected officials have the responsibility to uphold their oaths of office and not steal from the State through corruption or mismanagement.

“When I addressed the Constitutional Assembly 25 years ago, I said our Constitution must become more than words on a page; it must become a reality in the lives of our people. Unless we do so, this progressive and revolutionary document will be rendered irrelevant and meaningless,” Ramaphosa stated.