Ramaphosa: Indian, coloured and white citizens feel excluded in SA

President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted the non-racialism unity envisioned for democratic South Africa has been lost, leaving Indian, coloured and white citizens feeling excluded and ignored.

Ramaphosa was speaking at the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) 40th anniversary celebrations at Johannesburg City Hall on Sunday ahead of his address to nations attending the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa grouping) Summit.

The event’s theme was about reigniting non-racialism and active citizenship to reclaim the supremacy of the country’s constitutional democracy.

Ramaphosa said the UDF was a “mighty demonstration of people’s power that was so vital to the achievement of our freedom”.

Enthusing at how the slogan “UDF unites, apartheid divides” was a potent slogan in the 1980s to “bury” the apartheid regime, the president said the ideals of a non-racialism unity had been replaced by ethnic division and factionalism.

“Many in our country, including some who are gathered here today, are disappointed that the non-racialism unity embodied by the United Democratic Front has been lost. To many, it has been supplanted by ethnic chauvinism and factionalism – even in the liberation movement [the ANC].”

Exclusions

Ramaphosa also said while government expressed determination to “leave no-one behind, millions of citizens feel excluded”.

“Many coloured and Indian compatriots who were the backbone of the UDF, feel excluded from our nation’s political life, and point to their under-representation in decision-making structures as evidence of this.

“Many white South Africans wrongly believe there is no place for them in South Africa today, and some have drifted towards laager-style politics and a siege mentality,” Ramaphosa said.

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Moving forward

Ramaphosa said the country must set its “sights high”, on what must be done to overcome the most immediate challenges facing South African people.

“That is why, as the UDF@40 Call to Action puts it, we have to recover the best traditions, ethos and values of our democratic struggle.”

The UDF was the coming together of over 400 organisations including trade unions, students’ unions, women’s and parachurch organisations from 1983 to 1991.

Its goal was to establish a non-racial, united South Africa in which segregation was abolished and in which society was freed from institutional and systematic racism.

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