WEDNESDAY marks the 161st anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in South Africa. The first slave ship arrived in the Cape in 1657. Among the initial unwilling immigrants was a group from Dahomey in West Africa. Later the majority came from countries around the Indian Ocean — sometimes as political prisoners, sometimes as criminals. Although the international slave trade was abolished in 1808, the day of freedom for the last 38000 South African slaves only came 30 years later in 1938 after a four-year so-called apprenticeship to prepare them to be “fit for freedom”. But there will be no great fanfare to mark the day. All that is planned is a humble commemoration at St Phillips Anglican church.