South Africa marked the 12th anniversary of its first fully democratic election on Thursday amid calls from government, trade unions and politicians for tackling unemployment, poverty and HIV/AIDS that still make millions suffering.

South African President Thabo Mbeki attended a national Freedom Day celebration in Kimberley, Northern Cape Province, while various commemorative activities were organized across the country.

In his speech, Mbeki called on all South Africans to commit themselves to work together to help bring prosperity to the country, whose economy grows steadily but high unemployment and rising inequality remain problems.

Mbeki told thousands of people attending the celebrations in Kimberley that there were a number of key local government priorities that had to be urgently addressed.

One of these was the capacity of local government structures for better delivery of public services.

"We have to attend seriously and systematically to this matter because it cannot be that after 12 years of democracy we still have municipalities that cannot deliver basic services," said Mbeki.

He said service delivery was central to the country's freedom because citizens could not enjoy this while they had no clean water or sanitation.

Slowness in providing proper housing, roads, clean water and health care has aroused numerous protests, some turning violent in past months.

In his speech, Mbeki honored past heroes and heroines who brought freedom to South Africa.

"The celebration of Freedom Day is no ordinary celebration. It is a day when the country's citizens need to pause and reflect on the past and remember those whose sacrifices made it possible for all South Africans to enjoy the benefits of democracy," he said.

Freedom Day marks South Africa's first post-apartheid democratic elections held on April 27, 1994.

Twelve years after the African National Congress (ANC) party won the landmark elections, the ANC and the government now face challenges such as high unemployment rate and increasing inequality, described by some scholars as still depriving economic freedom from the majority black population.

The unemployment rate, even on the narrowest official definition, stood at about 27 percent in 2005, despite the 5 percent GDP (gross domestic product) growth. Some said it could be higher.

"The 22 million who live in poverty and the 41 percent of the population who are unemployed are not truly free,"the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) said in a Freedom Day message.

"The fruits of freedom cannot be enjoyed if you have no job, no money, no food on the table, nothing to pay your children's school fees and no proper health care for your family," the COSATU warned.

Johannesburg-based newspaper The Star said in its editorial that while people should be proud of what the country has achieved in the past 12 years, "raising the level of satisfaction is a challenge facing South Africa today.

It said a recent survey which showed that less than half the adult South African population were satisfied with the fledgling post-apartheid democracy.

Rampant spread of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, arguably the world's most serious, is another hurdle preventing South Africans from gaining broader freedom.

"The millions who suffer from HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases, many of which are diseases of poverty, are also not truly free," said the COSATU.

Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the opposition Inkatha Freedom Party, said in 1994, when black South Africans voted for the first time, about 10 percent of adults in KwaZulu Natal Province were infected with HIV.

"Today the figure stands at about 40 percent, one of the highest rates in a nation that has more people infected with HIV than any other," he said.

Independent Democrats, another opposition party in South Africa, focused on the country's high crime rate.

The nation would be truly free only when "our children (can) walk safely in our streets, our men and women .. do an honest day's work and the dignity of our women .. is restored," it said in a message of Freedom Day.

Source: Xinhua