Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town at dusk

It’s a beautiful evening here in Cape Town, South Africa. From this vantage point, we have a striking view of Table Mountain with its ‘tablecloth’ - cloud cover that typically shrouds the landmark. Cape Town is a popular tourist destination noted for its beaches, natural beauty, architecture and multicultural diversity - a showcase for the South Africa that Archbishop Desmond Tutu called the rainbow nation.

We’re here today to mark the Day of Reconciliation, a public holiday held annually on 16 December to celebrate unity. President Nelson Mandela and the government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission created the holiday in 1995 to heal the wounds after decades of apartheid - a system of institutionalised racial segregation and oppression. South Africans observe the day with parades and other festivities.