On the evening of his electoral victory, after the first democratic election in South Africa after years of racist oligarchy, Nelson Mandela began his victory speech in a conventional style: "My fellow South Africans – the people of South Africa” (Guardian 3 May 1994 cited in Billig 1997:97). He then described the new South Africa, “the type of South Africa we can build”. His message made it clear that the country he was speaking about had a unique, identifiable and addressable people: “The speech was addressed to “us”, the people, the country, the nation. South Africa is called the “Rainbow Nation”. This is due to its multicultural diversity, after different groups came here in previous centuries. We are called the Rainbow Nation because it signifies the unity of multiculturalism and the coming together of people of many different races. In indigenous South African cultures, the rainbow is associated with hope and a bright future (as in Xhosa culture). The colors are simply said to symbolize the diversity of South Africa's generally unspecified cultural, ethnic or racial groups. Whether you are pink, yellow, black, blue or white, we are all equal and have a bright future ahead of us. This term was also coined by the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, later Nelson Mandela expanded on it saying: "Each of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa. trees of the bushveld - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and with the world” (Guardian 11 May 1994 cited in Billig 1997: 97). From here, the aim of this essay is to explore the construction and representation of the “Rainbow Nation”. in the local soap opera series, Generations...... middle of paper...... what is told and retold in national histories, literatures, media and popular culture. These provide a set of national stories, images, landscapes, scenarios, historical events, symbols and rituals that depict or depict shared experience, sorrows, triumphs and disasters that give a meaning to the nation. As members of such an “imagined community,” we see ourselves in our minds, sharing this narrative. Investing in this type of identity gives meaning and importance to our existence, connecting our daily lives to a national destiny that pre-existed us and will survive us. Thus, the Generations narrative plays an important role in making sense of what constitutes the South African generation as we enter the 21st century, as well as in shaping how members of a South African nation -African imagine the wider community of the South African people.