Democracy wouldn’t be possible in SA without reconciliation, says Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa said democracy wouldn't be possible in the country without reconciliation.

Ramaphosa on Tuesday delivered the keynote address at the Reconciliation Day commemoration event in iNquthu, northern KwaZulu-Natal.

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The gathering happened at the Income Museum, where the Blood River war between the Zulu nation and the Afrikaners took place in 1838.

Ramaphosa said that South Africans bear scars of centuries dispossession and oppression.

“We recall the Battle of Ncome, the Bambatha Rebellion, the Bulhoek Massacre,the 1946 Mineworkers Strike, Sharpeville, Langa, Cato Manor, Western Deep Levels, the Trojan Horse Massacre, Sebokeng, Boipatong.”

The president said that oppressors wanted to instil instability and conflict.

“The former oppressors tried to turn South Africans against each other, fomenting violence, terror and instability that tore communities apart.”