Obligatory "Race" options not indicative of a Rainbow Nation

<p class="MsoNormal">I went to <span class="il">Nedbank</span> in Sea Point to open accounts for my young daughters. As I was signing the necessary papers, I noticed that the consultant, Jowayne Johns, had chosen a race category for my daughters. I asked her why she made a choice without asking me first and she responded that the system would not allow her to continue without choosing one of the four answers to the question of &ldquo;race&rdquo;.&nbsp; The only choices are &ldquo;Black&rdquo;, &ldquo;Colored&rdquo;, Asian&rdquo; or &ldquo;White&rdquo;. She then asked if I wanted to choose another category. But this was not the point. The point is, in a supposedly "Rainbow Nation", how can we all be FORCED to choose one of only four categories? What about people who do not fit in these categories? What about giving people the option of "other" or making it an optional question?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I emailed Nedbank and asked them to remove the references to race in my daughters' accounts. Constanze Cheslin rep**** - after an "internal investigation" - that "<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: #1***7d;">The options provided on our application forms are prescribed by law as we are required to report under certain categories; ie Black, Coloured, Asian and White. &nbsp;As a financial institution subscribing to various financial legislature we have an obligation to comply and therefore do not have a say in the determination of the options provided."</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">A bank is only as good as the way it chooses to conduct business. If Nedbank refuses to make this question optional or at least create an "other" for people who do not fit in one of these four boxes, then I would rather move my business elsewhere. Perhaps I'll be lucky and I'll find a bank in South Africa who is not bound by law to classify its clients based on restrictive statistics reminiscent of the divisive practices of this country's past.</p>