I just love Talk Radio 702. I listen to the radio every morning on my way to the office. 702 gives me the opportunity to weight in on matters that affect me, matters that concern me, and matters that are simply angering me beyong comprehension.

This morning, John Robbie had a discussion with two telephonic guests representing opposite ends of a particularly sensitive topic for me. Alledgedly, the South African Airways have been guilty of racism in their employment policies. Apparently, if you completed an online application to become a pilot, the system threw you off if you chose your race as “white” and gender as “male”. Look… I am a web developer myself, and I am absolutely with the complainants that these things do not happen “by accident”. It is a conscious decision to exclude certain groups of people from applying. You need to program the system to kick you off if you are white and male.

On the one hand, we had Dirk Hermann, from Solidariteit, and on the other side, we had Tlali Tlali, spokesperson for the SAA. Mr. Tlali was defending the SAA’s position on the matter, while Mr. Hermann was explaining why Solidariteit was going to court over the matter.

I was actually quite enjoying the “robust bickering” until Mr. Tlali mentioned “the history of the country” and “past injustices” and ’employment equity”. Why did I lose my cool here? Simply because of the generalization that all whites were previously advantaged and all non-whites were previously disadvantaged. As a white man in South Africa, I did not have any particular advantages in my career. I did not have a trust fund, and I did not have rich parents who could shoo me into a nice position that they think I could fit into. I had to work hard to be where I am today. This often meant working from 6 in the morning until midnight. I did that. I was a waiter once too. I started right at the bottom. Today, I am a respected web developer, doing work for some of the largest companies in South Africa, and I worked to be here, and my skin colour did not bring me where I am.

When will this problem end? When will people stop hiding behind the “evil old apartheid” and embrace the “good old rainbow nation”? South Africa can only heal if people are employed on merits and according to the law. If SAA have a historically dominant white employee force, not confirming to the law, excluding some groups of people will not solve the problem amicably. If you constantly stick to the law, and include all racial groups in employment, based on merit of their potential or skills, you WILL eventually catch up with the “inequalities of the past”, albeit a bit slower than anticipated, you will sit with a work force that is competent, balanced according to the law, and fair.

Stop this reverse apartheid! It will not accomplish anything.