To help poor black people, those who serve them need to have the best qualifications and competence, regardless of their race.
In 1994, South Africa faced a choice: should we uplift the lives of poor black people or should we have ‘employment equity’ (where the racial proportion in every level of employment matches the proportions in the population at large)? Obviously, we couldn’t have both, because they are incompatible. The ANC chose employment equity, and therefore a huge proportion of our people are now mired in poverty, bad education and unemployment, while huge strides have been made towards employment equity.
The advance is shown in impressive detail in the latest Annual Report, 2018-19, of the Commission for Employment Equity, published by the Department of Labour. With a large number of interesting tables and graphs, it shows how occupations, skills and qualifications are broken down by race, sex (oops, sorry, ‘gender’) and disability. The races, following the Employment Equity Act of 1998, are ‘African, Coloured, Indian and white’. They are not defined. So racial classification, which is compulsory, is based entirely on the discretion of the person making the classification. (You are not allowed to classify yourself. Otherwise I’d classify myself as ‘African’, since the human race evolved in Africa.)
The grand goal of employment equity is ‘transformation’. Transformation means getting rid of the whites. This report records considerable progress in doing so. The public sector has been very successful, the private sector less so. State education, municipalities and Eskom are all triumphs of employment equity. Eskom is a shining example. Through a very determined campaign (sometimes called ‘space creation’) to get rid of white engineers, technicians and managers, Eskom has been a paragon of transformation. This explains why its senior managers have received enormous bonuses – for their success in promoting equity. The fact that Eskom, which once produced the world’s cheapest electricity, has been ruined and is now essentially bankrupt is a different matter.
An even more dramatic example is in state education for black children. Here transformation has been greatly helped by the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU), which controls black schools in most provinces. SADTU promotes affirmative action for black teachers and puts employment equity for teachers ahead of concern for the education of pupils. State schools for most black children have been transformed, and education for poor black children has been ruined, making them among the worst-educated on Earth. Everybody, including ANC politicians and SADTU leaders, knows this. That is why their own children never go to transformed schools. Black children at non-transformed schools (schools where there are disproportionately more white teachers) do far better than black children at transformed schools, and so prosper in life. Employment equity impoverishes black children.
Here is the central question for champions of employment equity. Whites make up less than 8% of the population. By the ideal of employment equity, no school should have more than 8% white teachers. In fact, in most schools in South Africa, 92% of the teachers are black. So, ANC politicians and SADTU leaders must answer these questions: ‘If you believe in employment equity, why don’t you send your children to schools where 92% of the teachers are black?’ and ‘Why do you send them to schools like St Stithians, Bishops, Rhodean, Westerford and St John’s where most of the teachers are white?’
It is the same in the municipalities. Water, sewerage, electricity, roads and other services for poor black people are failing because the municipalities have been transformed. Competent people with the wrong skin colour have been replaced by incompetent people with the right skin colour. Again, a big success for employment equity and a big failure for poor black people.
Employment equity also does deep psychological damage and harm to racial harmony. Suppose qualified, experienced white teachers are replaced with unqualified, inexperienced black teachers. The children then do badly in their matric exams. You say, ‘affirmative action has failed’. Immediately there is a storm of outrage: ‘Racist! You’re saying all blacks are incompetent!’ Of course, you’re saying nothing of the kind. You’re saying that you should always appoint qualified, experienced people, regardless of skin colour. But the racist label sticks. So, you shut up, and the damage to black lives continues. Competent black people in top jobs are bracketed with the incompetent, which undermines them.
The black person who gets his job because of his skin colour is keenly aware of it. It promotes both resentment and a feeling of entitlement. He feels that to be called an ‘affirmative action’ employee is a deadly slur, even though that is what he is. On the one hand, he might become despondent and humiliated; on the other, he might become arrogant and think his skin colour guarantees his continued employment regardless of his performance. Either way is bad for him and bad for society.
To help poor black people, those who serve them need to have the best qualifications and competence, regardless of their race.
Andrew Kenny is a writer, an engineer and a classical liberal.
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the IRR.
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