South Africa Marks
Reconciliation Day
Tony Ekata, Pretoria
South
African President Jacob Zuma has called on the citizens to come
together to fight the social ills of racialism, xenophobia and
sexism.
Zuma, who addressed a crowd at the Freedom Park in Pretoria, on
the occasion to mark Reconciliation Day, on Wednesday, said the
nation should be proud of the achievements made over the past
fifteen years in promoting reconciliation and non-racialism.
He however stressed that the responsibility of building the
nation should be shared by all, irrespective of race, colour or
gender.
Significance
VON Correspondent reports that the day was set on the South
African calendar as a public holiday, to reflect on a resolve to
draw positive lessons from the conflicts of the past and the
courage to forgive and reconcile.
It is a day also used by the country to celebrate progress made,
reaffirm commitments to and measure challenges ahead of the goal
of achieving a truly united South Africa.
Dedication
President Zuma dedicated this year’s Reconciliation Day to the
military veterans, who bore much of the brunt of the struggle
and who had been complaining of neglect.
He announced increased support for veterans and serving military
personnel, including salary increases of between two and
sixty-five percent for soldiers.
Areas of concerns
The President made an appeal to South Africans to extend the
spirit of reconciliation to foreigners in the country.
The statement comes against the background of xenophobic attacks
in South Africa recently.
’’As we mark this important day, we also urge South Africans to
extend that spirit of ubuntu and reconciliation to foreign
nationals living in our country. We are outraged by the reports
of ill-treatment of foreign nationals in some parts of the
country. Let us embrace especially our African brothers and
sisters who usually bear the brunt of ill-treatment more than
foreigners from other continents.’’
Zuma’s speech would no doubt be welcomed by immigrant
communities. But analysts believe that fundamental issues of
service delivery and unemployment need to be addressed urgently
if the distrust and suspicion that fuel such tendencies are to
be laid to rest.
For instance, although almost half of South Africa’s population
feels that race relations have improved fifteen years into
democracy, over half of the citizens feel that they are
justified in joining demonstrations to express their concerns
about poor service delivery, while only twenty-two percent of
South Africans have confidence in finding a job.
This is according to a new survey commissioned by the Institute
for Justice and Reconciliation, the results of which have just
been released in Cape Town.
Yinka
