'Shoot the boer' sung on Freedom Day

A Beeld report says DA leader Helen Zille and ID leader Patricia de Lillie addressed about 2 000 people outside the Constitutional Court on the issue of threats to the Constitution when demonstrators with ANC flags arrived. Police had to control the crowds. Zille said the incident 'symbolises their (ANC's) onslaught on the Constitution'. She also claimed President Jacob Zuma was a threat to the Constitution. 'He abuses his power to protect his friends, like Schabir Shaik, from the law, while other political opponents are prosecuted.' Zille said the Constitutional Court was there to protect citizens from the power abuse that could make the country another Zimbabwe. Full Beeld report

Zuma used the occasion to call for a national dialogue that will give South Africans a 'collective perspective' on place name changes, the songs people sing, language policies at schools and the slaughtering of animals for ancestors. A Beeld report quotes Zuma as saying the government will communicate details on the debate as soon as the initial consultation phase is completed. Full Beeld report

Zuma also elaborated on the effect apartheid legislation still has on the country, according to a report in Die Burger. Although the Group Areas Act had been abolished almost 20 years ago, many people still live in areas that have been identified for black citizens in the past. 'Our people are still confronted with that Act on a daily basis,' Zuma said in his Freedom Day speech. He said many people still live on the outskirts of towns and cities, far away from economic activity. 'These laws may have been removed from the law books, but their consequences are still felt across the country.' Full report in Die Burger