SA will continue to used race-based terms until all are equal: Ramaphosa

TimesLIVE

27-05-2025

President Cyril Ramaphosa has insisted that race-based terminology still serves a purpose and will continue to.
This is despite many questioning the need in post-apartheid South Africa to divide citizens into categories such as African, Khoi San, coloured, Indian and white.
But Ramaphosa believes the terms are valuable in legislative areas covering land reform, employment equity and economic empowerment.
'South Africa belongs to all those who live in it and we all have an equal claim to this country. As we work to overcome the racial divisions of the past, we have put in place legislation and other measures to redress the effects of discriminatory laws, practices and conventions that took place in the country.
'If we are to affirm and advance the position of people who were previously disadvantaged, and held back, we use these terms. We need to use for them for this purpose alone, as they are associated with our apartheid past. Not only is the use of such terms necessary to redress, it is also useful to gauge the progress that we are making, and reduce the stark difference between different population groups in our country.'
The president was responding to a question from Patriotic Alliance MP V Daniels in parliament, who asked why racial classification was necessary 30 years into democracy.
Despite placing emphasis on its current use in legislation, Ramaphosa conceded that given the country's segregated past, the discussion was a difficult one to have.
'The use of race-based terminology will always be difficult for our country as we work to put behind the racial injustices of the past. However, until we have reached our goal where there is equality for all people in our country, there will be circumstances where we need to use such terminology. Our responsibility is to ensure that our use of such terms ultimately makes the differences they refer to less and less important, until they are rendered meaningless and no longer serve any purpose.'
He said finding alternative terms that would be accepted by the entire population would not be straightforward and would be bound to spark a debate.
Despite the controversy that lingers around the topic, the president reassured MPs that the country was on the correct path.
'We are on a journey of moving away from the shadow of our horrible past which defined us as separate groups and separate entities. What is important is for us to see ourselves first and foremost as Africans, as it constitutes our being as South African. We need to rid ourselves of those divisions. It will take us time but we are on a journey,' he said.