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Pretoria – Racism cannot be cured or be debated, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday.

“Those who are victims are impatient. Those who have been beneficiaries of racism have been emboldened and they say a number of things,” he said.

Mantashe was briefing the media following a three day national executive committee meeting.

He said President Jacob Zuma discussed the issue of racism at length while delivering his political report to the meeting.

This follows heated debate over racism which was sparked by comments in early January by real estate agent Penny Sparrow who called black beachgoers “monkeys”.

Racism has dominated the political narrative ahead of local government elections. DA leader Mmusi Maimane last week called on racists not to vote for his party.

Mantashe on Wednesday said the solution was to “deal with social dynamics in society” and transform the economy.

“It should be access to land and the allocation of land to people who have been deprived of access to land.

“All programmes must ensure that black people benefit from the economy of the country.”

He emphasised that it was not just about addressing social economic problems but restoring the dignity of the majority.

“Those who don’t have access to basic needs and basic necessities of development will never be able to debate whilst our people don’t even have access to land. That is why . . . we refer to accelerating of the allocation of land. If we don’t do that, we are unable to address inequality and racism.”

The discussions at the ANC lekgotla were expected to contribute to Zuma’s state of the nation address next month.

Meanwhile, a former prison comrade of Nelson Mandela said on Wednesday there was “a long way to go” on race relations in South Africa, as he and others received a high-profile honour in London.

Denis Goldberg, an anti-apartheid activist who was jailed alongside Mandela in 1964 and was his friend for over half a century, said South Africa had come “a tremendously long way” since the end of apartheid in 1994.

“But the racial segregation was burnt into the minds of every South African,” he added. “There is still a long way to go.”

Goldberg, who is 82, made the comments as he and fellow activist Ahmed Kathrada received the freedom of the City of London alongside their former lawyers George Bizos and Joel Joffe. Previous figures given the honour include Mandela himself plus Britain’s WWII prime minister Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales.

The freedom of a city is a symbolic honour given to individuals to recognise their contribution to society.

The City of London has been giving out the honour since 1237. Its freemen have the right to drive sheep and cattle over London Bridge, which crosses the Thames, but this and other such arcane privileges are seldom exercised.

Among others attending the ceremony was Mandela’s granddaughter Tukwini. “There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done in South Africa but I’m hopeful,” she said

“The young people of South Africa are really hopeful about South Africa’s future and they really want to contribute to the political process so my feeling is one of great hope.” – AFP