'The attainment of liberty was the first decisive step in the path of reconstruction and development: a path that sought to harness the life experiences, skills, energies and aspirations of the people of South Africa towards the complete eradication of apartheid and its vestiges, as well as the building of a united democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous future for all. However, the road ahead remains long, steep and winding. More still needs to be done to translate our freedom into profound socio-economic change in the lives of many South Africans, to whom the great promise and optimism of 1994 has given way to disappointment and hopelessness. In this collection of poetry, Lawrence Mduduzi Ndlovu retraces our steps as a nation from the period immediately preceding freedom and democracy in 1994 to where we are 25 years later'.