Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has pleaded with the people to be patient with the slow pace of transformation.

He said victory in that regard might not even be possible in their lifetimes.

Addressing congregants of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Pretoria yesterday, the deputy president said many people regarded 15 years as enough to dismantle the apartheid legacy that left the majority of people underprivileged due to decades of oppression.

"As such, they demand that all the accumulated disabilities be solved now in our lifetime," he said.

Justifying the slow pace of transformation, Motlanthe said not all people who formed the ANC in 1912 lived to see the dawn of democracy but said they all had faith in the victory of their efforts.

"Their efforts were reinforced by the understanding that those who would come after them would continue and complete that effort. We, the present generation, must proceed based on the understanding that those who would come after us will complete this task. If we proceed as though what we do is the last thing on earth we are bound to cut corners and make mistakes," he said.

Motlanthe also warned against alienating the minority by resorting to what he called "majoritarianism" when taking important decisions, especially when changing names of streets, cities and buildings.

"We must always avoid resorting to majoritarianism. There is nothing wrong, in fact it is the essence of democracy that the majority view must always prevail. Yet there is everything wrong with majoritarianism because this is when we use our superior numbers to take decisions that are not understood and accepted by others," he said.

"If we proceed in this fashion we will not succeed in uniting our people. We will forever suffer from the weakness of being a divided people."

The deputy president was accompanied by ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga and Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane.