Racist or realist?

If the intention of affirmative action is to give thousands of people who had been previously denied an opportunity to participate in the workplace (other than in the most menial and poorly paid jobs) the chance to do so, then it has been a dismal failure. In the 15 years of ANC rule we can hardly trumpet the success of our affirmative action policies. Margaret Thatcher, in half the time the ANC have been in power, completely changed the economic face of Britain.

In the post 1994 euphoria it was understandable that the new government would need to deliver on some of their election promises and bring jobs to their voters. But a government cannot create jobs other than those in the civil service. The role of the government is to create an environment conducive to the creation of jobs, and to some extent that happened. Except for the fact that good old racism was always simmering away on the back burner.

Skilled white job seekers knew that an advert which carried the words "We are an equal opportunity employer etc," meant that you'd have to be pretty daft to apply if you had a white skin. At the time there was an almost unseemly haste to get the demographics right at the expense of talent or efficiency. AA employees lasted only months and brought very little to the party before moving on to even more lucrative jobs and the latest model of cellphone. Gradually the system stabilised and the quality of appointees improved for the simple reason that it was proving too expensive to carry on employing black people who didn't have the necessary skills.

BEE and affirmative action are sustainable during the good economic times when they can be shrugged off as an extra tax on the business. Even during the boom years South Africa didn't exactly cover itself in glory when it came to global competitiveness. Now that the economic landscape is so barren what becomes of BEE and affirmative action? Many businessmen insist that they no longer have the capacity to have their businesses used for a social engineering experiment. On the other hand, they are more than happy to employ proven talent but would rather not have the Henry Ford rule enforced; you can have any colour you like as long as it's black.

To me that looks like pragmatism but to others it is pure racism. They have the notion embedded that racists are deliberately preventing the hiring of black talent? Unfortunately, by spitting venom at white businessmen and seeing some sort of racist insult in the appointment of whites does little to improve matters.

Unless we get affirmative action and whatever passes for BEE right in the next few years we may as well give up. What needs to happen urgently in this country is for us to put the issue of race behind us and to hire the best person for the job, even if it is a "greybeard" from the bad old days. Then the government should introduce tax incentives for properly planned mentoring programmes over the next ten years. That way we will emerge strongly from the global recession. Continuing to play the race card at every opportunity and using affirmative action as a tool to appease black voters are strategies well past their 'best before dates'.