Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
28 June 2024 | 10:30 CAT
2 min read

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has called on the incoming Government of National Unity (GNU) to reconsider the use of racial classifications in South Africa.

The parties likely to join the GNU have publicly committed to a non-racial South Africa, in alignment with the founding provisions of the Constitution.

IRR analyst Marius Roodt argued that continuing to classify people by race perpetuates its relevance and suggested looking to countries like Namibia, which does not collect racial data.

“Countries around the world that have a similar history to South Africa and similar demographics, but they don’t classify people by race which is something we need to look into,” he said.

Roodt highlighted that during apartheid, individuals were often reduced to their race, with many being denied human rights based solely on their racial classification.

“If we are committed to non-racialism, is it still necessary for people to still classify themselves by race?” he questioned.

Roodt proposed replacing current policies with the IRR’s non-racial Economic Empowerment for the Disadvantaged (EED) program.

“Some people also argue because of reasons such as black economic empowerment that we still need to classify people by race, which is an argument that shouldn’t be dismissed, but IRR proposes a new system that looks at an actual economic disadvantage to determine who needs to be empowered, such a system at the same time, would benefit the vast majority of black South Africans,” he said.

According to Roodt, race relations in South Africa are relatively good given the history, with people generally getting along well in their day-to-day interactions. He believes that there isn’t a great deal of racial animosity, but race remains an important factor because of the emphasis on it.

“For many people, their race is an important component of their identity, we are simply saying we shouldn’t have race-based policies, and the government shouldn’t expect people to self-classify themselves, reducing people down to a skin colour,” he said.

He emphasised the importance of moving towards a truly non-racial society while acknowledging the complexity of the issue given South Africa’s history.

LISTEN to the full interview with Ml Habib Bobat and IRR analyst and writer, Marius Roodt, here.