Following calls from high-profile members of the ANC for a debate on race and transformation, President Zuma insisted that such a debate would take the country backwards. Is he right or does South Africa need to talk about race? Rebekah Kendal takes on iafrica.com's new Business Editor Philip Devine...

Rebekah Kendal reckons that South Africans are all talking race anyway, so we might as well make the conversation official.

A non-racial society is nothing more than a dream. As far as national dreams go, it is, by all means, an admirable and noble one. But to pretend that it is anything more than a dream — anything more than a lofty ideal — is naïve.

Following in the well-trodden ANC footsteps of denial, President Zuma issued the following statement on the pointlessness of a discussion around the topic of race in South Africa:

"We have never looked at things in terms of race and ethnicity but, rather, in terms of people being South Africans."

Sure.

It seems fitting, at this point, to remind our non-racial leader (whose supporters championed his cause with t-shirts bearing '100% Zulu Boy' slogans) of a statement he made earlier this year.

"Of all the white groups that are in South Africa, it is only the Afrikaners that are truly South Africans in the true sense of the word... It is the only white tribe in a black continent or outside of Europe which is truly African, the Afrikaner."

Race matters in South Africa. It matters to our leaders. It matters to policy makers. And it matters to the man in the street. To deny this is both self-defeating and counter-productive.

Race may be a random and wholly unjustified system of categorisation, but it is one which has been vested with significance for centuries. It is one which dictates power and opportunity. For decades, official categorisation by race shaped South African society. And more than 15 years into democracy, it continues to do so. To expect (or pretend) otherwise would be foolish.

The only hope South Africans have of moving beyond a society pre-occupied with race, is to engage constructively with the issue. As a nation, we need to consistently re-examine and re-evaluate our understanding of race — a process which can only ever begin with self-examination and a willingness to change strongly-held prejudices.

Only when South Africans engage in a frank and open conversation around the issue of race will we find common ground. Until then, the cancer of racism will continue to eat away at the vitality of our society and politicians will continue to use it as a tool to stoke the fires of discontent.

Behind closed doors, around braais, and across the anonymity of the internet, South Africans are talking race anyway, so let's make the conversation official.

Philip Devine believes that debates on race only serve to stir up anger and vengeful thoughts.

It's time to forget about race. If you're born in America, you're an American. Not an African-American or a Hispanic-American or anything else.

The same applies to Africa. You're either born an African or you're not — and it has everything to do with geography and nothing to do with the colour of your skin.

Besides, debates on race only serve to stir up anger and vengeful thoughts. Feed the appetite for racial vengeance and retribution and it will win every time. Feed the hunger for non-racialism and tolerance and, well, the conclusion is obvious.

No other solution is acceptable because there cannot be a 'good' form of racism any more than there can be a 'benign' form of socialism.

There will always be a debate on race — or racism for that matter — in any society, but it can be ignored and will snuff itself out or burn itself down to a smoulder.

This is most apparent in the children of the new South Africa. Friends, classmates and playground pals are no longer judged along lines of colour, but on who has the most marbles or who can run the fastest or climb the highest; concerns befitting children.

It is adult society that colours the minds of children with useless rhetoric on why the amount of melanin contained in your epidermis determines your social worth and political standing. And your entitlement to luxury and riches, for that matter.

What is instead needed is a debate on compassion and the provision of a moral compass for society at large, something that is sorely lacking in South Africa. When people are armed with a sense of their immense self-worth and learn to recognise that in others, they can be left to their own devices.

Then, no discourse on race, no matter how loud or how potentially divisive, can cloud their collective judgment or steer them off course toward self-destruction.

Do you agree with Rebekah or Philip? Share your thoughts below!

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