Zuma was addressing thousands of people who had attended the national Freedom Day celebration held in Manguzi, northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Zuma said in the fight against racism by the government the Department of Justice was finalising a national action plan “against racism and related intolerances”.
“This plan will give further clarity and guidance to the government on the fight against racism," he said.
"We have also recently published the prevention and combating of hate crimes and hate speech bill."
“Once it becomes law it will criminalise discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation and religion,” he said.
Zuma also spoke about radical economic transformation and said it was a “fundamental change in the structure, systems, institutions and patterns of ownership, management of control of the economy for the benefit of the majority."
He said the level of inequality remained high and the pace of transformation in the workplace remained slow.