Cabinet supports ruling on restriction of display of apartheid flag

Cabinet supports the ruling that the old flag “impairs the dignity of black people and that those who display the apartheid flag consciously choose oppression over liberation”.

Cabinet has joined South Africans in welcoming the Equality Court’s ruling on the restriction of the display of the pre-1994 apartheid-era flag, which represents the country’s divisive past.

Cabinet supports the ruling that the old flag “impairs the dignity of black people and that those who display the apartheid flag consciously choose oppression over liberation”.

“Symbols that represent the dark days of South Africa, especially the old flag, do not contribute towards building the united, non-racial and non-sexist society as envisioned in the progressive Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996,” Cabinet said in a statement on Friday.

Cabinet calls on all South Africans to promote and strive for a common national identity, as enshrined in the Constitution.

The display of the old apartheid flag should be restricted to a genuine artistic, academic or journalistic expression that is in the public interest.

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)