‘Russia-Ukraine war trap sees SA losing gains’ – Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Russian-Ukrainian war has become the new trap that has is reversing the gains South Africa has made since the dawn of democracy, including the rise in food and fuel prices.

While there were internal factors that needed to be addressed, external factors like the Ukrainian war had affected the country’s economy.

“We see a number of gains are being eroded, not because of the impact of Covid, but because of global events that are taking place beyond our shores,” Ramaphosa said.

“The gains are now going to be reversed by that war because our food prices are now going up and our fuel price.

“Instead of moving forward, we are now getting into another trap, all because many things we are trying to do depend on the outside factors. But not all of them as some depend on internal factors.

“Factors such as corruption and incompetence have had a devastating impact on the delivery of services, especially to society’s most vulnerable,” he said.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa opens up about his conversation with Putin

“Corruption and state capture have eroded human rights and weakened the institutions of the state and undermined the rule of law.”

Ramaphosa, who addressed the Human Rights Day commemoration at Koster in North West on Monday, vowed to fight against violence aimed at the LGBTIQ+ community and women.

“An attack on the LGBTIQ+ community and women is an attack on everybody and on the values of South Africa and its people.

“To the LGBTIQ+ community, I would like to say, you are not alone. We will walk this journey. We are with you. I am with you as well.

“The struggle against violence and hate against the LGBTIQ+ community must end and it must end now,” Ramaphosa said.

Any attack, killing of women and gay community members and violation of their rights was essentially an attack on the values of the state and the South African people, he said.

The incidents of racism that occurred post-1994, including the 14 January, 2008 Skierlik squatter camp massacre where an Afrikaner teenager, Johan Nel, went on a shooting spree against black people, killing four and injuring scores of others, was a reminder that, despite the fall of apartheid, racism was still alive.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa’s Reconciliation Day message: Let’s deal with inequality and racism

He said the “apartheid horror” was about humiliating black people by treating them as subhuman.

“It is this type of humiliation that must come to an end. We suffered 340 years of humiliation and we say it is over; it is enough.

“When anybody wants to express their prejudice against us; wants to express their difference against us, do not humiliate us,” Ramaphosa said.