In 1994 President Nelson Mandela told the world that "Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world." 15 years later, despite the many progressive strides that have been recorded in the new democratic dispensation, we are still struggling to get rid of racism in South Africa.

Racist attitudes, stereotypes and actions continue to characterise our society.

Only a few days ago the incident at the University of the Free State showed its face again, more than a year-and-a-half after white racist students shamefully humiliated African workers. But racism is not confined to the Free State. And it is not only alive in schools and institutions of higher learning.

It exists in the workplace and in the corporate sector. It is evident in every city and town all over the country. What is revealed in the media only tells a very small part of the story because the majority of our people continue to suffer in silence and isolation all the time.

The slow pace of transformation in the private sector is mainly due to the dominance of white males who were bred and cultured under institutionalised racism and who are unable to appreciate and comprehend that black people, and Africans in particular, are human beings too and that they are as capable, if not more capable, as they are to do the job at hand.

The majority of private corporations in South Africa do not employ Africans into key and strategic positions. If we look at the positions of Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers across the country they are mainly occupied by non-black South Africans.

In the instances where the doors have been opened to non-whites, it is often where they are closely partnered with a white counterpart who watches over their shoulders. The black CFO of Nedbank is a case in point. The underlying message could not be worse: white South Africa is still unable to embrace their black brothers. It does not stop with corporate South Africa. Millions of farm workers and domestic helpers live with brutal racism on a daily basis. The only difference is that their voices are not heard.

Many white children are reared within a belief system that teaches them that Africans are sub-humans, inferior to them and sitting at the bottom of the race ladder. In multi-racial schools, African children are forced to adapt to white people's way of doing things. They are encouraged to take on their accents, because all things African are associated with inferiority.

It is a fact that in modern South Africa, African cultures are dying a fast death. African children living in our suburbs are beginning to denounce their cultural practices and language, because the culture and language of white people is presented as a superior model and the more acceptable way of life. Is this what our fathers fought for? Is this the new South Africa, a white South Africa that does not differ much from apartheid South Africa?

The racial attitudes and stereotypes should be uprooted in society, particularly amongst children.

The reality is that the majority of white people, despite the practical assurances made by our democratic Constitution and government; continue to believe that black people are out to get them. They feel threatened, but there is no basis for their insecurity.

Many of them suffer from jungle fever, a fear of all things black. They tend to protect their space against what they imagine to be black dominance. With the inspiration of President Nelson Mandela, the ANC Youth League will never be a proponent of black dominance.

It is time that we, black and white South Africans, began to appreciate that the fight against racism is not about leaning on one side or the other, or about short-term solutions as these could undermine the efforts of constructing a single, united, non-racial and non-sexiest and prosperous nation.

The ANC Youth League has been open and robust in its programme to confront racism. And it will continue to do so as we continue in our struggle to build a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa.

Racism belongs to another era. It was the ideological weapon of the apartheid oppressors to subjugate the African majority, and blacks in general, under a racist government which denied our people basic rights. It cannot occupy the same space as our democracy.

And where it exists, the ideological weapon of white racists should be exposed and be defeated through open confrontation. This is not an easy task because racism is not always overt. Its roots are deep and entrenched in a long history of economic exclusion. It is one of the most difficult evils to uproot. But that doesn't mean it cannot and will not be done.

If we allow racism to continue, we can never achieve our goals. It is our responsibility to uproot racism from our society and if we want to get rid of racism, we have to accept some truths. The massive class and economic divide that exists between black and white people is keeping us apart.

Black people, and Africans in particular, should share in South Africa's wealth and benefit from the opportunities presented by our democratic government. The ANC Youth League's call that we should realise economic freedom for the black majority and Africans in particular in our lifetime is a vital component in the struggle to build a non-racial better South Africa.

The struggle did not end in 1994. We only attained political freedom and the struggle for economic freedom is yet to be attained.

Our frank engagement on the issue of race in South Africa does not mean that we are blind to the many positive developments that are happening on the issue of racial integration.

There are both black and white people who are growing to understand and appreciate that South Africa belongs to all people who live in it, regardless of their colour. If we do not recognise these advances we would only undermine the progress South Africa is making in building a truly non-racial and democratic society.

The ANC Youth League calls upon white people to participate in the developmental agenda of our democratic government. We also call on them to bury their fear of the unknown.

We will never support any dominance by any one race, including any call to drive the whites men to the sea. We will continue to engage each other in a more open and robust way until we find one another and get a buy in from everyone to redress the imbalances created by the nonsensical, brutal apartheid regime.

Julius Malema is the President of the ANC Youth League. This article first appeared in ANC Today, the weekly online newsletter of the African National Congress, November 27 2009

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