President Cyril Ramaphosa used
the Raymond Mhlaba memorial lecture to issue a wake-up call to those who still believe
apartheid was not a crime against humanity.
Delivering his speech at the lecture
in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, the president said: “The unity of the people of
South Africa, black and white, is being undermined by those who perpetuate the
false and backward notion of white supremacy which manifests itself in sporadic
rants of racial bigotry.”
“Also undermining the unity
of South Africans are those who work hard to conceal, rather than confront,,
their own racial prejudices. These often hide their racism under the guise of
critical intellectual engagement and freedom of speech.”
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Ramaphosa said these people
sought to manipulate memories of the apartheid past and present apartheid as
having been less than what it was.
“Apartheid was a crime against
humanity and against the people of SA.”
The president’s comments came
after a public outcry in Parliament last week when apartheid president FW de
Klerk was invited to the State of the Nation Address after he said in an
interview that apartheid was not a crime against humanity.
The memorial lecture was held to
honour “Oom Ray”- a struggle icon in the ANC who would have turned 100
this year.
Ramaphosa said Mhlaba Ray
belonged to a special generation of leaders who charted the path to freedom.
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Turning to the scourge of
corruption, the president said: “Another affront to the vision and legacy
of Mhlaba and his comrades is the issue of corruption.”
He said corruption and the
associated phenomenon of state capture were obstacles to the achievement of
radical economic transformation.
Mentioning a few other struggle
icons in his speech, including former president Nelson Mandela, Harry Gwala,
Chief Albert Luthuli, Ramaphosa said gender-based violence (GBV) undermined Mhlaba’s
vision for a non-sexist society.
He called on men to change their
behaviour and attitudes and to see women as equal human beings.
“Women of South Africa are
not second-class citizens of the Republic of South Africa, nor are they
children who need a guardian or father figure making decisions for them.”
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The president added that men in
South Africa should treat women with the respect and honour that they deserve because
they are mothers, sisters, aunts and grandmothers.
He thanked the Mhlaba family for
allowing their son to be a part of the struggle.
