President Cyril Ramaphosa says in order to move forward in unity the country must take a firm and unrelenting stance on combating racism in all forms. Ramaphosa was engaging in a question and answer session with the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) this evening.
The engagement was part of the President’s ongoing dialogue with different sectors of society.
Health and lifestyle retailer Clicks has come under fire over a controversial online advertisement that denigrated the hair of black women.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has protested at Clicks stores nationwide.
Clicks and Checkers have removed Tresemme products from their shelves over the company’s involvement in the saga.
Ramaphosa says the gains made since the dark days of apartheid must not be allowed to be diminished.
“Racism continues to rear its head in our country where the basic human rights of sections of our populations are being degraded and undermined. Much as we have made significant progress over the last 26 years in building a non-racial South Africa and we have taken a lot of actions, but there are few who are seeking to take us backward. As a country, we must take a firm and unyielding stance against all forms of racism.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks against racism:
Harrasment of journalists
South African National Editors’ Forum Chairperson Sbu Ngalwa has raised the issue of the harassment of journalists in the country and in the Southern African Development Community region with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ngalwa has urged that journalists received greater protection particularly in light of the recently adopted principles on the freedom of expression by the African Union which Ramaphosa chairs.
“As we have seen in the last few days the harassment of our SABC colleagues Foreign Editor Ousi Sophie Mokoena and anchor Peter Ndoro who were abused by officials linked to Zanu-PF and are part of the Zimbabwean government and we have seen over the last few days incidents of corruption particularly around the protest at Clicks and as an organisation we have issued a statement, we have asked for Parliament to investigate some of the members,” adds Ngalwa.
