Ramaphosa: I apologise for high poverty rate
President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted that his biggest regret is the many South African still living in poverty.
Ramaphosa made the admission the an African National Congress (ANC) memorial service for former Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe in Pietermaritzburg on Friday.
Ramaphosa said while there have been several advances since the advent of democracy 25 years ago too many South Africans still live in poverty.
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He believes the recent spate of xenophobic attacks in Johannesburg and Tshwane was fuelled by a lack of employment.
"Our own people have faced unemployment, crime and drugs and comrades, when we say we must not be intolerant it does not mean it does not mean we care less about our own citizens.
"I am prepared to apologise to our own people and say over the 25 years - much as we have brought about changes there are quite a number of people in our county who are still poor, who are still unemployed and for that I regret and I apologise. We are going to work very hard to make sure we address the needs of our people.”