Ramaphosa keen to end racial classification system but says it's necessary to address past inequalities

CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa said that he would like to see the country eventually do away with the racial classification system introduced during apartheid altogether.

But until such time as the inequalities caused by the past have been addressed, particularly in the economy, it will have to remain.

He was pressed in the National Assembly on Tuesday about the country's racial classification by the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), with the PA bemoaning groups other than black people not being considered African.

ALSO READ:

• Ramaphosa: No intentions to make changes to SA's mining royalties structure

• Ramaphosa pokes fun at Oval Office meeting with Trump

President Ramaphosa said that all South Africans were, first and foremost, to be considered African.

But he said that a racial classification was necessary not only to address past inequalities but also to measure progress.

"Our responsibility is to ensure that our use of such terms ultimately makes the differences they refer to less and less important, until they are rendered meaningless and no longer serve any purpose."

While ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe said there had to be another way to classify people other than by race, Ramaphosa said that it was not that easy.

"If we don’t do that, then it basically means that we are accepting that everything is equalised, when we know very well that it isn’t."

Ramaphosa said that if apartheid’s legacy was not confronted, it would merely be like putting a plaster on a deep sore.