JOHANNESBURG - South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white and all groups shall have equal rights.

READ: SONA 2025 | SUMMARY | Ramaphosa introduces the Reform Agenda

These are the lofty precepts of the Freedom Charter that turns 70 on Thursday.

It was signed on 26 June 1955 in Kliptown in Soweto, by members of the ANC and aligned groups.

A historian and author says to reflect on this milestone we have to confront a paradox.

Democracy has triumphed but there are unfilled aspirations.