“South Africans of all colours and backgrounds proclaimed freedom and justice as their unquenchable aspiration. They pledged loyalty to a country which belongs to all who live in it.” – President Nelson Mandela at the signing of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa at Sharpeville on 10 December 1996.
With this signing of the country’s supreme law, non-racialism was entrenched as one of democratic South Africa’s founding provisions.
Non-racialism, as the term clearly indicates by the existence of the prefix “non”, illustrates that race, should not be, in any and all cases, used to determine the suitability of an individual where race could be construed as an arbiter of societal position or the advantages or disadvantages of being a certain skin colour in a social setting.
Just as in the days under the system of Apartheid, racial categories are used today, in a modern, democratic, free and supposedly “non-racial” South Africa to address historical injustices committed under Apartheid, to redress and provide an opportunity for upliftment of those classified as “Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDIs)”.
Now, nobody in this nearly 63-million-large South African populace can be against the wholesale upliftment of the most destitute and needy. But we have our differences. Race is one of them. It will always define some part of our lives. But it is not government’s business to be determining who benefits from employment or tenders based on skin colour.
Some HDIs are still indeed disadvantaged, even if we do not see race as an arbiter of societal position. That is because of the legacy of Apartheid, and through policies such as job reservation. This can still be seen today. For example, in a 2018 Statistics South Africa study on poverty and inequality (done in collaboration with the World Bank) Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma wrote in the foreword “the country’s socio-economic challenges are deep, structural and long-term.”
Success is not race-based
The successive post-Apartheid governments wanted to fix the problem, but not in the most efficient or effective manner. They have adopted what the study calls “redistributive policies”: Verwoerdian racial demographic quotas for certain sectors through the Employment Equity Amendment Act and through the concept of demographic representivity. These policies hold the country back from providing the necessary opportunities to those who need them most and threaten the flight of not only capital, but also experience.
Opportunities and development are provided through economic growth and skills, not restrictive race-based policies such as Employment Equity and Black Economic Empowerment.
IRR Race Law Index
According to the IRR’s Race Law Index, meticulously maintained by Martin van Staden, there are 141 Acts of Parliament that contain references to South Africa’s race groups which are currently in operation. 116 Acts of the 313 recorded since 1910 have been adopted in the last 30 years alone.
To illustrate their lack of interest in race-based law, and the very reason the IRR decided to develop the Index; ordinary South Africans do not even bother to look at the Appropriation Act, the law that government uses to determine how it spends your (VAT included) tax.
One could ask “why go through the effort of keeping up to date with the latest attempts at race law, when it has no tangible impact on your life?”
And this is exactly what race law proponents bank on: lack of information, so they can continue with their racially antagonistic propaganda.
Non-racial transformation
The ANC likes to brag that it is the “leader of society”. It bases that claim on the former majorities it received at ballot boxes. In the 2024 NPE, the party received only 30% of votes from the voting-eligible population, the standard of measuring voter participation.
The ANC is not “the leader of society”, nor is it the voice of the majority, especially considering that roughly 26 million South Africans chose not to vote.
So, race-based law is justified by a vocal, relatively small group of ANC-aligned individuals and organisations steeped in the Left’s “transformation” agenda, who tacitly accept that the use of race for redress is somehow justifiable and correct “because of Apartheid”.
Would you want to be held back from achieving your full potential because your skin colour is not what it should be?
With relative certainty, that answer is a resounding no.
Referring to the Statistics South Africa study, it raises the concern of “popular discontent around unemployment, poverty and inequality”. Over the past four years this discontent has deepened, due to a continued insistence by government on low-growth, inhibitive economic and labour policies plus the unexpected effects of a public health crisis of majestic proportions, at a time and in a place where these problems cannot afford to be ignored.
Government, get on side!
Apportioning blame to Apartheid and colonial “economic relations” is shirking the (modern) responsibility of fixing these three pressing crises, and especially so nearly thirty years into democracy. As leading economist Thomas Sowell aptly states, “blaming all differences on discrimination is profoundly misleading” in that it distracts from the actual problem(s) facing South Africans.
The latest IRR polling shows that 47% of South Africans think unemployment and job creation should be government’s top priority, compared to 7% who think that BEE and race-based policy should be on top. Afrobarometer polling shows that 71% of South Africans believe unemployment should be the government’s top priority.
Problems are left unsolved, ravaging our society, while the government focuses on whether you fit the criteria to be given a job based on your skin colour. It is akin to playing pinball while the arcade is engulfed in a raging fire, and on the verge of collapsing, yet you see no problem, because your focus is on that little ball. The fire represents the three crises which are in the process of consuming the arcade, which represents society, while that little ball is the destructive Employment Equity and Black Economic Empowerment Acts.
Be not afraid though, for all is not lost. Freedom-loving South Africans, who have the interests of the people at heart, will be able to rebuild. We will rebuild for the benefit, not of a minority, but of the majority who seek equal access to opportunity through merit, skills creation, and education.
Restriction on employment seeks to hurt those who need it most. It is oppressive and done for political objectives, at a time when nobody of any race can reasonably afford to be kept out of a job by a government which seeks to benefit from regulation for personal enrichment.
It is in the best interest for all to succeed.
It is not in the national interest to be forced into a box under the illusion of “fair” racial discrimination. There is no such thing as fair racial discrimination. “Fair” racial discrimination is what the government says is necessary to redress Apartheid injustices, to level the playing field. Race-based transformation is being used as an opportunity to disenfranchise individuals and prevent them from reaching their own potential. Look where BEE has gotten us: record unemployment rates and perpetual years of low economic growth!
The time is now, to fix what is broken.
[Image: https://www.facebook.com/NelsonMandelaCentreOfMemory/posts/the-constitution-was-signed-by-president-nelson-mandela-on-10-december-1996-in-s/3571864782851263/]
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