Cape Town – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says government is planning to host a National Summit on Social Cohesion in 2018 to tackle racism and promote nation building.
The Deputy President said this when he fielded oral questions in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) in Parliament on Wednesday.
He said government has put together a package of measures to promote social inclusion, nation building and to eradicate racism.
A Member of Parliament had asked what measures government has put in place to deal with poverty, unemployment, divisions of race, class and gender in order to forge unity in the country.
“Through the Department of Arts and Culture, government has partnered with the moral regeneration movement on a number of projects - projects that will help to build and enrich the moral and ethical substance of our nation.
“All this is being done to address the challenges that we continue to face. Government, on its part, is not planning a national summit to exclusively deal with racism. Instead, government is supporting a range of initiatives that will address these societal challenges.”
The Deputy President said the National Summit on Social Cohesion that is being planned for 2018 will take stock of the progress that has been made in promoting social cohesion, including ridding the country of racism, sexism, xenophobia and intolerance.
His comments come a day after the National Assembly debated racism at institutions of higher learning.
The South African government’s programme to transform society, as well as the economy, is clearly set out in the National Development Plan, said the Deputy President.
The NDP acknowledges the division which the country faces, perpetuated by both racist and sexist attitudes and practices.
“Government has taken a number of concrete steps to eradicate the material basis of racism, sexism and class division in our country, by working to ensure equal access to education, equal access to healthcare, to housing, social grants and a number of other basic services that are available to our people.
“Government has also instituted a number of measures to redress centuries of economic dispossessions and exploitation and a number of these measures include employment equity measures, land restitution, land reform, broad-based black economic empowerment, preferential procurement, the development of small and medium enterprises as well as the development of black industrialists which has just been approved by cabinet,” he said.
Government has developed a draft national action plan to combat racism and deal with questions of discrimination, xenophobia and related acts of intolerance that continue to be practiced in the country.
South Africans have been invited to comment on the draft plan before 30 June 2016.
The Department of Arts and Culture has undertaken initiatives like the Mzanzi Golden Economy Programme to address the challenges of poverty and unemployment through the arts, culture and heritage sector.
It is also organising community conversations and sectorial engagements across the country to address issues of social cohesion and nation building.
“If we are to address the divisions of our society and build a united nation, what we will have to do is to work together. Social cohesion is a national effort which will require that we all take collective action and also take personal responsibility as citizens of this great nation,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
