President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on South Africans to challenge the narrative that their country is a place where people of a certain race or culture are being targeted for persecution.

He made the call in his weekly newsletter in which he reflects on Human Rights Day which was celebrated in the country last Friday.

Ramaphosa says that South Africans must reject politics of divisiveness that are emerging in many parts of the world.

The President says in South Africa, all citizens, African, white, Indian and coloured, male and female, enjoy equal rights and freedoms that the state is obliged to uphold, protect and advance.

He adds that there are constitutional protections guaranteed to all racial, cultural and linguistic groups, including their right to enjoy their culture and to use their language.

He says that South Africans should therefore not allow events beyond their shores to divide them or turn them against each other. He adds that even those with the most offensive views should know that in democratic South Africa, the country’s constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, if it does not include incitement to violence or advocacy of racial and other hatred.