South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urged to eradicate racism and xenophobia in the country, which persisted 25 years after the end of the apartheid regime, the speech of the head of state was broadcast by the state television company SABC, TASS reported.

Ramaphosa noted that the freedom that the South African people gained 25 years ago remains incomplete until the country eliminates the deep social inequality between racial and other groups of the population inherited from apartheid.

There is still a wide gap between rich and poor, between urban and rural residents, between men and women, between those who have a job and the unemployed, between those who own land and those who have been deprived of it, he said.