The changing societal context in South Africa (SA) has necessitated curriculum reform to deal with the challenges of education, from apartheid to democracy, with the aim of promoting active citizenship education. The aim of the paper is thus to illuminate to what extent the Grade 11 Life Orientation (LO) curriculum prepares learners for active citizenship in a democratic South Africa. The research on citizenship education adopted a qualitative interpretive approach and a case study as the research design. The findings suggest that there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of concepts relating to active citizenship which constrain effective preparation of learners for active citizenship in a new democracy. Recommendations refer to a focus on curriculum development and a framework to inform active citizenship policies and structures applicable to the education system. [For the complete Volume 14, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568088.]