Rainbow Nation celebrates Heritage Day

South Africa dwells on its glorious past, present and progressive future

South Africans marked Heritage Day yesterday as a day to "reflect on the past, the present and the future, on where we came from, where we are and where we are leading," in the words of Johannesburg's The Star newspaper.

The first sentence of the preamble to the nation's Freedom Charter, adopted on June 28, 1955, reads: "We the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and no government can justly lay claim to authority unless it is based on the will of the people."