A Freedom Day postmortem — would Dube, Plaatje and Seme recognise our liberty? South Africa’s 32-year democratic ‘audit’ suggests a nation stuck in stagnation, where freedom has been narrowly defined as liberation from apartheid rather than the fuller promise of liberty and self-realisation. Returning to the founding vision of 1912 – rooted in economic self-reliance and ‘freedom to’ rather than only ‘freedom from’ – is essential to overcoming today’s structural decay and political inertia.