ANC CONCERNED ABOUT SEEDS OF RACIAL DISCORD
The African National Congress has noted with concern recent racially charged incidents in various parts of the country. Amongst these are the tensions in Eldorado Park relating to the appointment of an African teacher in a so-called Coloured school and complaints laid by the Minority Front against the leader of the EFF Mr. Julius Malema.
These and many other such incidents are an antithesis to the values upon which our liberation struggle was executed and democratic dispensation was founded. Incidents such as these, regardless of their genesis, serve only to undermine our nation’s democratic project and deepen racial discord.
South Africans, of every color and hue, have repeatedly made the emphatic point that South Africa belongs to all who live in it — black and white. In its preamble the Freedom Charter, our people’s vision for a better South Africa, proclaims: “We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know — that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people;”
Our nation’s commitment to non-racism has been one of the most consistent and self-defining features of the country we seek to build. Our commitment to it as a people is sacrosanct and its attainment non-negotiable.
Accordingly, the African National Congress calls upon its structures and leaders as well the government it leads in Gauteng to intensify engagement with the community of Eldorado Park on its demands. But more importantly, call on all structures and progressive organs of people’s power to engage in broader discussion on why compatriots who would have been an integral part of the majority during the struggle, seems to feel relegated to a minority in democracy.
These are important engagement that must be had to close the chasm of polarization and discontent amongst all our nation groups. Whatever difficulties and challenges we may face as a nation and as a consequence of our progress, we must always vigilantly guard against reversing the gains we have in advancing the ideals of united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society.
