Google celebrates Freedom Day with a doodle

Google celebrated Freedom Day in South Africa with a special doodle dedicated to the historic day.

The doodle‚ on the search engine’s homepage‚ featured a waving South African flag between two king proteas‚ the national flower.

On their website‚ Google said the doodle was to commemorate the first democratic elections in South Africa on April 27‚ 1994.

Google users who clicked on the doodle were led to a Google search with information about Freedom Day‚ which commemorates the first elections in which South Africans voted as equals after 300 years of colonialism and apartheid.

“While this national holiday is a celebration of the progress that has been made so far‚ it also serves as a reminder for South Africans to continue making steps towards unity and equality‚” Google wrote on their site. “Today‚ we celebrate Freedom Day and the hard-earned progress that is continuously made throughout the country.”

The doodle received attention on social media. Western Cape Premier Helen Zille tweeted a photo of the doodle and wrote: “Happy Freedom Day! Let's keep freedoms alive - including the foundational ‘freedom of speech’."

This was not the first time Google has celebrated the day with a doodle - last year an image of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika composer Enoch Mankayi Sontong graced the homepage.