Sponsored Links:
Shanti Aboobaker
SOUTH Africans need to agree on and write a common history before social cohesion can become a reality, Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma said on the final day of the national social cohesion summit in Kliptown, Soweto, yesterday.
Dlamini-Zuma was responding to verbal submissions during a commission on racism, tribalism, xenophobia and sexism, which claimed that African people had been in the areas now defined as SA for only 130 years.
“I think it’s a pity we have not written our history, so we also have a common understanding. It’s news to me that South Africans arrived in this country 130 years ago,” she said.
She cited a row that erupted when Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder told Parliament in February that Africans did not have a legal and historic claim to up to 40 percent of SA’s land because they had migrated from northern Africa.
She also said issues raised by members of the Khoi and San communities – which included dissatisfaction at being referred to as coloured, as well problems with names – should be addressed.
Despite a gruelling two days, with intense and robust discussions, which many said had revealed a lot of the country’s collective pain, disparate groups said they were pleased with the outcomes.
“Initially we were quite concerned because it seemed there was a lot of Afrikaner-bashing. But (yesterday) was a more constructive process, where everybody could air their views,” said Alana Bailey from Afriforum.
) and select "Flag as inappropriate". Our moderators will take action if need be.
Services
Business Directory
We like to make your life easier
Mobile
Browse IOL on your phone at m.iol.co.za.
Newsletters
Subscribe to our newsletters. News delivered to your inbox!
