South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday urged his compatriots to reach out to each other as part of the country’s reconciliation efforts following centuries of officially sanctioned racial divisions under apartheid.
Writing in his weekly newsletter, two days ahead of the country’s observation of Reconciliation Day on 16 December, Ramaphosa said one way of reaching out to one another among South Africans was to learn a neighbour’s language.
“I call on each of our citizens to think of the simple things they could do to reach out across the racial divide in their everyday lives. One way of doing this is to learn another South African language,” the president said.
He said by trying to learn the language of one’s friend, colleague, neighbour or the people they interact with daily in public places, “you open up the space for real communication.”
According to him, South Africans needed to find ways to reach out beyond their social and professional circles to appreciate other people’s points of view.
“Through sporting, cultural and religious activities, we can find ways to interact with fellow South Africans from a diversity of backgrounds,” Ramaphosa said.
Reconciliation Day was set up to reconcile this racially divided country that Nelson Mandela described as a “Rainbow Nation” in his 1994 inaugural presidential speech.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that it was difficult to explain to the younger generation of South Africans, who were born after the end of “brutal and extraordinarily petty apartheid,” what it was like to live in an officially segregated country.
But it was important in the new South Africa to deal decisively with the obstacles to reconciliation, which include high levels of inequality and the persistence of racist attitudes and practices, he said.
“But it is also equally important to acknowledge just how vastly different our country is today to what it was 26 years ago.
“For every negative story of racism that makes the news, there are countless other positive stories of racial integration, communities living in harmony and social cohesion that do not generate headlines,” said Ramaphosa, the country’s fifth president since the end of apartheid.
NM/jn/APA