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.

This morning, I have again realized why (at least in my humble opinion) we have such high unemployment rates, and why, after almost 20 years (legalized) of anti-apartheid movements, that the situation has still not changed much – inequality, unemployment, poor standards of living, low education. All has remained literally the same as in the past, except for the politically connected, who are now draining our country of every precious cent we have.

I went to a large chain store today (name withheld) to get some keys cut. I gave the attendant the key chain with 4 keys on it. I said “good morning” and that I need to two sets of copies of this set of keys for my new employees who started work at my company on Monday.

First thing the attendant says to me is “Hau mennie?” (not “good morning” back), so, calm and collected, I replied “two please”. The reaction is “which keys”. I said “All of them, please” and then I got a blank stare. So, being raised on a farm, my instincts from the 1980’s kicked in (and I immediately felt bad about it, I’ll have you know)… “Djy sien hom hierrie keys, ne? Djy vat hom, djy hal hom af van die se keyring, ne? Nou djy vat hierrie four keys, ne, en djy cut hom two copies of each. Okay?”

In the 1980s we talked like that on the farms with the subjects. That appeared to be the only way they understood us, however wrong it may be. We do not get this all that much in urban life any more, but I am wondering how many times you catch yourself talking down to someone?

Any ways, back to the point. People get jobs because they have to, according to the BBBEE policies of the country, and I do feel that if two people, a white and a black person are suitably qualified for the same position, the black person will (and maybe even should, depending who you ask) get the job. But in the event that the white person is still better qualified, can communicate better, and can do the job better, this should be a no-brainer. The “whitey” should get the job.

So – here we are back at the chain store with this attendant. No clear communication skills, and only around 25 years old. This person was around 1 year old when the big struggle began, and about 5 years old when apartheid was abolished, and free education came into play. Fair enough, there are other factors, such as poverty, that regardless how much free education you can get, if you do not have food, you won’t learn, but still. They have had SO many more opportunities than they had in the 1980s. Still they can not get basic communication right, almost 20 years after the fact.

So the question I pose today is as follows: How long does it take to get an evil system such as Apartheid to totally gone? To get the effects of what happened because of it eradicated? Not 20 years, I am sure, maybe closer to 40 or 50 years, but, shouldn’t we see some progress by now? Shouldn’t we have more previously disadvantaged people who can communicate better and do the job better, and train their staff better? I blame the ANC. Our “guvmunt”. I blame them for not doing enough to rectify the injustices our forefathers have caused. They have had complete political control and full control of the country for the last 20 years, for heaven’s sake! Shouldn’t they have done more with this opportunity?

The people who are suffering are the ones at the bottom. The attendant is the victim here. The attendant didn’t get the training or education necessary to do the job. The attendant was getting ridiculed by me speaking the way I did, because the guvmunt couldn’t make even the slightest bit of progress with the full country and its resources at their disposal. They have let their people down.

Well, well, well. They are at it again. An illegal strike by the Gautrain bus drivers is currently crippling the service to a great degree.

Not long ago, they also had a strike, and demanded that they receive transport from home to work and back home when their shifts are completed. That time, strike was a legal strike, but the outcome was not favorable for the strikers. Their demands were not met. It is a logistical nightmare to arrange something like that – I do not blame the Gautrain management for not giving in to that demand.

In my opinion, the best that the Gautrain management could’ve done was to give them a pay raise so that they could pay their transport – and in effect they would’ve had the transport they demanded, but the problem with this approach is, that should they NOT use the increase to pay for their transport, but on other needs, a month or two later, they will still demand it, because now they do not have transport, due to their wage increase being used for something else than what it was intended for.

With a reference to my previous post of today, regarding the fact that affirmative action is in favor of a majority with complete political control, I have to ask the following question: 18 years after apartheid, and with so many public sector jobs occupied by black people, why do only black people demand things like this? I have never heard of a strike where white people demanded transport to and from home! I have not ever demanded that. Actually, I have never even gone on a strike. A friendly 4 hour protest once in my own time, yes, but not a strike in the time that I am supposed to be working!

Where will this end? Let’s say that the Gautrain management give in to these demands. What will they demand tomorrow? A green leprechaun hat with a pink flower on? If they don’t get it, will they do another strike?

Ridiculous!

“South Africa is the only country in the world where affirmative action is in the favor of the MAJORITY, who has complete political control.

The fact that the political majority requires affirmative action to protect them against a 9% minority group is testament to a complete failure on their part to build their own wealth making structures, such that their only solution is to take it from others.”

This statement will outrage a lot of people, but I see the truth in it. Some people will call me a racist, and I can also live with that – because even though my posts come across as racist, you will consistently find that my post will deal the same way with white people in the event that they are displaying the same behavioral stance.

Let me try to get into their shoes. I’ll try my best, but I will not claim that I do it correctly or even partially successfully, but let’s try.

“My name is Sipho. I am 22 years of age in 2012. I was about 4 years old when apartheid was abolished. [1] The white man will say I was not affected by apartheid, which is an incorrect statement, as apartheid was ended in 1994, but the mindset of people didn’t change yet. [2] So, although to a lesser degree than my father, Phinias, I was still affected by apartheid. I have a real problem, because: “I don’t have a job, I don’t have any education, I have to do crime to make a living. [3]”

[1] – Apartheid was legally abolished in 1994.

[2] – As a white man, I believe that if you feel that Sipho was not affected by apartheid, you need to have your head examined. For many years after apartheid was abolished, nothing really changed, except that the leadership of the country shifted from a predominantly white Afrikaner regime to a black ANC regime. So, up to this point, I am with Sipho in this.

[3} – Here is where I am throwing my toys out of the cot. Sipho does NOT have to do crime to make a living. Sipho had the benefit of free education, as he was not yet a school-goer in 1994, and was thus allowed in previously dubbed white schools to get a proper education like everyone else. If he didn’t learn, or didn’t go to school. I would consider it the fault of his family who didn’t send him, or his unwillingness to forge his own future. It could be argued that the system was broken and that black children were abused in the previously dubbed white schools, but if that was the case for everyone, why did so many black South Africans rise to the occasion to get their degrees and all training they have? In government positions, in the apartheid era, the majority of employees were white by far. Now, in the ANC regime, by far the majority of employees in the government are black. Sipho could’ve studied, and either got a job in government, or in a private sector firm that recognised his talent and potential, if he decided to forge his own future. Heck, he could even have been an entrepreneur!

To come back to the statement that I opened with, I am not absolutely 100% sure that South Africa is indeed the only country in the world where this is the case, but the premise that affirmative action in favor of a majority with complete political control is simply disgusting. With complete political control during the apartheid era, the white minority was able to establish a firm (yet unfair and immoral) control over black and colored people. How come the current regime has to resort to BBEEE and other bullshit policies to take farms from white owners at a fraction of its worth, and give jobs requiring a particular skill set or education to black people who are not qualified or skilled enough to do them, simply because of affirmative action?

Where will this end?