This Freedom Day, we need to have a hard talk about the past

As we look towards Freedom Day this year, my mind turns to what I feel is a failure to establish the context in which our country as we know it has come to be shaped. In short, why do we commemorate Freedom Day at all?

- Zukiswa Pikoli

What has instead taken hold is a seeming-ly coordinated attempt at erasure because of the potentially difficult conversations that would follow honest engagement with our history. This is particularly alarming as it pertains to the country's young people.

Living in an ahistorical and acontextual world is a dangerous thing, not just for the individual, but for the collective. It means taking in what seems to be randomly organised bits of information without having enough know-how to convert this raw data into knowledge.

Critical thinking helps you to navigate life and understand why things are the way they are. From this knowledge you can create space to envision how things could be. But without this critical capacity, misinformation and disinformation can take root.