Healthcare and retail group Dis-Chem has officially released “Freedom,” an original Heritage Day anthem created to inspire South Africans to move more and prioritize health and well-being.
Composed by acclaimed South African producer and conductor Ralf Schmitt (co-founder of the Ndlovu Youth Choir), the track was built directly from social media responses submitted by everyday South Africans answering the question: “What does Better Health mean to you?”
From Internal Staff Auditions to Commercial Collaboration
The anthem features the Dis-Chem Freedom Choir—a 40-member choir composed entirely of Dis-Chem employees from Gauteng (32), the Western Cape (3), and KwaZulu-Natal (5), who were chosen out of more than 100 entries in national internal auditions.
First performed at Dis-Chem’s Leadership Summit in April, the track was re-recorded in August as a full commercial release alongside major South African music icons:
- J’Something (lead singer of Mi Casa)
- Thatohatsi (rising Amapiano vocalist)
- Early B (popular hip-hop MC)
“Dis-Chem started 2026 with a strong core belief that we wanted to get South Africans to move more, because we know that just as little as five minutes a day of moving your body will bring tremendous health benefits,” says Megan Kim de Vroeg, Dis-Chem Chief Marketing Officer. “So we put the question to our social media followers: ‘What does Better Health mean to you?’”
“It was a very exciting process to write a song about what Dis-Chem staff and South Africans felt Better Health means for them, and my interpretation of that was, it’s freedom,” says Ralf Schmitt. “Age is going to catch up with all of us… if you’ve got good health, you’ve got freedom.”
A Message Rooted in Community and Safety
The release acknowledges the broader national context surrounding movement, personal safety, and gender-based violence in South Africa.
“Against the backdrop of the national sentiment surrounding freedom for women, we debated about delaying its release as we recognise that true freedom and better health depend on people being able to live their lives safely, with dignity and without fear of violence,” explains de Vroeg. “In the end we decided to share the song with South Africans on Heritage Day as it speaks to the kind of freedom we should all be entitled to, no matter where we are and no matter what we are doing.”