There is a general consensus among many of my peers that although we are better off than our parents and ancestors who endured years of oppression, the system still disadvantages many of us (black people) in some way. 

Yes, the complexities are there – but let’s not forget that our government has failed to push for redress beyond providing social grants and economic opportunities here and there. 

My friends and I joke about how this “freedom” largely benefits only a few. 

Nelson and I have been friends since high school. We come from more or less similar socio-economic backgrounds. Our parents taught us that the only way to escape poverty and obtain financial freedom was through education. 

Today, I am a journalist at a premier publication and he is a quantity surveyor for one of the top real estate companies in South Africa. For us, these are monumental achievements – we are our ancestors’ wildest dreams. 

And it’s for this reason that we ought to celebrate Freedom Day in honour of those who fought and endured such hardships for us to have a better life. 

Our being able to get a proper education placed us in a far more advantaged position compared to many others who did not get the same opportunities as us. But even with this advantage, structural systems of oppression haunt us. 

We always make light of how, for example, “black tax” is the reason why many of our peers in professional workspaces do not have financial freedom. This includes those in our circle of friends. 

My friend tells me that many of his young colleagues who come from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds can afford to live in luxury estates, while he still has to catch a taxi from the Eastrand to Johannesburg every day and endure long trips to and from work.

He damn sure can afford to buy a car or move closer to work – but that would mean sacrificing financial support for his mother and siblings. 

“Under my circumstances, I cannot even begin to imagine financial freedom like that because I still have to take care of things at home. I can’t afford to start my own life,” he tells me.

I use the concept of “black tax” as just one example of how the system haunts us. Nelson and I, plus many of our friends, agree that it is a system borne out of the many years of colonial domination and apartheid’s economic exploitation. This is a legacy left by both of these oppressive systems. 

I have many friends who, like Nelson, are educated – friends who are the first in their families to get an education. I watch them fight to provide a better life for their families and others in their communities who still live in abject poverty. They are holding the ladder for others to climb up, even at the cost of their own self-fulfillment.  

My friend and I continue to share business ideas in the hope of coming up with ways to attain financial independence, not just for self-betterment, but to uplift our communities too.

While we celebrate Freedom Day fully aware of what it signifies, we also know that the struggle for true freedom (in all respects) continues. DM

This article is part of a series of reflections from Young Maverick writers about what Freedom Day means to them.