South Africans are not racist, but certain individuals and political parties represented in parliament still harbour racists within their ranks. So said Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling on all South Africans to act together to rid the country of racists. He was answering questions from MPs in the National Assembly yesterday ."Where we find racism within our own ranks - and a number of parties sitting here in parliament still have people who are racists in their ranks - we need to act collectively to rid our institutions of racism," said Ramaphosa.He said the government would at some point need to act against racists and "take real hard measures"."Because racist practices are acts that are practised by individuals and institutions, we need to act together and not leave the task to government alone. In this regard business needs to play a role," he said.To build a truly nonracial society, all South Africans, black and white, need to unite "in ridding our country of the scourge of racial prejudice, discrimination and intolerance"."Racism is deeply imbedded in attitudes that a number of South Africans display in their beliefs and their behaviour towards one another. Racism is at the heart of the economic disparities in our country."To rid our country of racism and build a nonracial society, we need to tackle with greater effort the dehumanising and degrading racist attitudes and rid the country of hurtful and demeaning practices," Ramaphosa said...