--- description: New Google Doodle marks the date of South Africa's first post-apartheid election, and features the composer of 'Nkosi Sikekei' iAfrika'. title: Google Doodle Celebrates South Africa's Freedom Day image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77b86bd82dc10a0a/6988caddbc6cfce6a93e1178/freedom-day-and-enoch-sontonga-5748739204448256-2x.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Google Celebrates South Africa's Freedom Day with Doodle Honoring Composer Enoch Sontonga by [Kevin Lui](/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 27, 2017 3:47 AM CUT  Google by [Kevin Lui](/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 27, 2017 3:47 AM CUT Google is [marking the anniversary](https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-freedom-day-and-enoch-sontonga "undefined") of South Africa’s first post-apartheid election on Thursday with a Doodle honoring 19th century composer Enoch Sontonga, who wrote a song that is now part of the country’s current national anthem. Sontonga, who was also a choirmaster and poet, composed the song _Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika_ (God Bless Africa) in 1897\. It became popular over the years, according to Google, and was even recorded in a London studio in 1923. Singing the song became “an act of defiance” during apartheid, the South African government [notes on its website](http://www.gov.za/about-sa/national-symbols/national-anthem "undefined"), and became the anthem for the African National Congress. Because of this connection the song was banned during apartheid, as the _Guardian_ [noted](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/dec/06/nelson-mandela-protest-song-special-aka "undefined") in 2013\. In 1997, parts of _Nkosi Sikeleil’ iAfrika_ were fused with the country’s other anthem, _Die Stem_ (The Call of South Africa), to become the current national anthem of South Africa Freedom Day, on April 27, is a public holiday in South Africa. On this day in 1994, the country’s first democratic elections took place, in which people of voting age from all races and ethnicities could cast a ballot. With over 60% of the votes going to the ANC, [Nelson Mandela](http://time.com/3611911/nelson-mandela-year-later/ "undefined") became the country’s first black, and first democratically elected, President. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4757080/google-doodle-south-africa-freedom-day-enoch-sontonga/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4757080/google-doodle-south-africa-freedom-day-enoch-sontonga/"},"headline":"Google Celebrates South Africa's Freedom Day with Doodle Honoring Composer Enoch Sontonga","datePublished":"2017-04-27T03:47:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:08.937Z","description":"New Google Doodle marks the date of South Africa's first post-apartheid election, and features the composer of 'Nkosi Sikekei' iAfrika'.","url":"https://time.com/4757080/google-doodle-south-africa-freedom-day-enoch-sontonga/","keywords":["Newsfeed","South Africa","Google Doodle","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77b86bd82dc10a0a/6988caddbc6cfce6a93e1178/freedom-day-and-enoch-sontonga-5748739204448256-2x.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin Lui","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77b86bd82dc10a0a/6988caddbc6cfce6a93e1178/freedom-day-and-enoch-sontonga-5748739204448256-2x.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"freedom-day-and-enoch-sontonga-5748739204448256-2x","caption":"","creditText":"Google","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4757080/google-doodle-south-africa-freedom-day-enoch-sontonga/","name":"Google Celebrates South Africa's Freedom Day with Doodle Honoring Composer Enoch Sontonga"}}]}] ```