The 49th anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter will be celebrated by the launch of "The Road to Democracy, Vol 1", a book that records the anti-apartheid struggle from 1960 onwards.

Writing his weekly online column ANC Today President Thabo Mbeki expressed regret that June 26 was not a day that South Africans celebrated.

"The evolution of our struggle has resulted in the unfortunate development that we do not pay sufficient attention to this important day in our historical calendar, June 26th. We will have to correct this."

In order for the youth to love "their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace", they had to have access to the history of anti-apartheid struggle.

"Familiarity with our history of struggle cannot but inspire such love. This is because of the heroism displayed by our people for 500 years."

The book was a product of the work of the South African Democracy Education Trust (Sadet), established to ensure that the history of struggle was recorded.

The book would be an important addition to the sources of knowledge that would form the consciousness of future generations.

Mbeki said he hoped that South Africa's historians had the courage to and honesty to speak the truth. "They should not attempt to hide the errors of our movement, or to gloss over the weaknesses of the Revolution. They should choose to err on the side of moderation, anxious not to make a single statement that could not be corroborated by overwhelming proofs of its truth."

He said there were still many people, locally and abroad, who remained ignorant about South Africa's history.

"We need to tell this history so that those who are ignorant of it or fed falsehoods about it, should understand the truth. But, at the same time, we should understand our history so that we are able to comprehend the present, so that we are better armed to engage in strategic thinking about our future."

"Sadet has created the possibility for us to tell our own story. It has given us the possibility to be our own mirror, ourselves to make the necessary value judgements about ourselves." – Sapa.