DA: Govt reintroducing racism

2006-09-25 10:27

Johannesburg - South Africans should fight a malign racial obsession from seeping into the country's discourse again, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Monday.

In his Heritage Day message, Leon said warning signs were flashing that under an ANC government, South Africa was in danger of moving towards a new racial nationalism all over again, "with baleful consequences for the vibrant multicultural society we have painstakingly created under a democratic order."

Under the banner of transformation, the ANC-led government was zealously reinserting race - and racial distinction - into all spheres of society, including education, the economy, and culture.

"Once again, South Africans in many spheres of life are being categorised according to their race-affiliation - however arbitrary, irrelevant or contested this might seem to them as individuals."

This was potentially destructive of the rich inclusive culture the country's inhabitants were forging out of numerous diverse elements, Leon said.

- SAPA