·
CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK
o
(53*) Wikipedia
states that the central focus of ANC policy is: “The redressing of
socio-economic differences stemming from colonial- and apartheid-era policies”.
The Democratic Revolution (NDR) is defined as: “A process through which the
National Democratic Society (NDS) is achieved; a society in which people are
intellectually, socially, economically and politically empowered”; where
political and socio-economic inequalities stemming from Apartheid are
eradicated.
Government’s forming
process is anchored in the ANC’s central focus. This led to the structuring of departments,
equipped with authority to initiate acts and develop and implement transformation
programmes and plans.
The following serve as examples of such
acts, programmes and plans past by Government since 1994:
Acts
o
Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair
Discrimination Act; Restitution of Land Rights Act; Employment Equity Act;
National Empowerment Fund Act; and Preferential Procurement Policy Framework
Act, etc.
Programmes and Plans
o
Various policies, strategies and programmes
aimed at implementing legislation and “redressing socio-economic inequalities
and under-development” were devised e.g.: Integrated Human Resources
Development Strategy; Urban Renewal Programme; Integrated Sustainable Rural
Development Programme; Strategic Sector Plan for Agriculture; National Small
Business Development Promotion Programme; Programme for the Transformation of
Higher Education; Tourism Transformation Strategy/Programme for the
Transformation of the South African Tourism Industry; Transformation Programme
of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF); Local Government
Transformation Programme (LGTP); Municipal Transformation Programme (CMTP);
Social Transformation Programme; Programme for the Transformation of Juridical
Processes; Transformation of the Health Service Programme; Land Reform
Transformation Programme; Transformation Programme for Agriculture; Black
Economic Empowerment (BEE) Programme; Department of Home Affairs (DHA)
Transformation Programme; Public Service Transformation Programme; Programme
for the Transformation of Higher Education; School Transformation Programme;
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP); Land Transformation programme;
Procurement Transformation Programme and the Economic Transformation Programme,
etc.
What are the key characteristics of these Government acts, programmes
and plans?
·
They aim at converting the central focus of ANC policy into tangible
directives to be applied by Government.
·
They provide detail on required change and transformation.
·
They form the backbone or basis for what many white
people would refer to as “affirmative action” or “reversed discrimination”.
·
They affect almost every facet of the life of
whites: career progression, farming, sport, education, business, allocation of
tenders and more.
·
They serve as mandate for affirmative action;
they spur departments on to direct their efforts and resources at the “racist
minority”, referred to in 2.1.
Important:
·
(54*) The “racist minority” targeted by the
ANC represents only 8.9% of the population or 4.5 million people.
·
All other groups are collectively defined as
“black”, qualifying them as “previous deprived” to benefit from affirmative
action.
·
“Blacks” include ten times the number of
whites i.e. 46 million.
Information provided in
this study, needs to be interpreted within the above context.
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(53*)
Wikipedia -- African National Congress
(54*) South Africa Info – South Africa
·
TARGETING THE WHITE POPULATION
The following are
practical examples of how the implementation of Government Acts, Transformation
Programmes and Plans affect whites:
(55*)
BBC News Africa reports that: “In mid-August 2012, the national airline, South
African Airways (SAA), put up online advertisements for the training of cadet
pilots.”
“The trade union Solidarity put in two applications
with exactly the same qualifications and backgrounds except for one crucial
fact: One was white and the other black. The white applicant immediately
received a rejection letter while the black applicant progressed up the vetting
system.”
A massive storm broke out over the issue, with South Africa
(56*) An article to the same effect published by
Stormfront, claims that discrimination against Whites has pushed many Whites
out of the labour market. It states that: “As long as discrimination against
Whites continues, there will be Whites for whom a job search will be futile.
Race based discrimination against Whites has become much more widespread and
blatant in the past decade than it was even 15 years ago, when the Bureau of Labour
Statistics (BLS) estimated that there were hundreds of thousands of White males
in the category “discouraged workers.” Discouraged workers is “the grossly
understated term for those who have given up looking for work, usually after
long and futile job searches, and simply dropped out of the labour force.”
Important:
· How grim the effects may seem to whites, from a
Government perspective the incidents described by BBC and Stormfront
could be interpreted as examples of noticeable success with affirmative
action.
(57*) F W de Klerk, the
last Apartheid president of South Africa is of opinion that: “the proposed
‘second phase’ of the National Democratic Revolution is openly directed against
‘white males’ - who are quite unjustly blamed for the triple crisis of
continuing unemployment, inequality and poverty”. It is this labelling of white
males that puts them at the top of the most “unwanted” candidate in the labour
market.
·
Government departments are not only equipped
with authority to implement directives; they are also armed with the power to
take punitive action against the “white ruling class” if affirmative action targets
are not met.
Does Race Still
Matter in South Africa
(55*) BBC News asks the question: “Does
race still matter in South Africa ”
and provides its own answer by publishing a typical white
viewpoint on
race and discrimination in South Africa
Johan van Tonder, Building Contractor,
Vereeniging, Gauteng, South Africa
“South Africa
As a white person I feel alienated from this government. Politicians
tell us that we are the "rainbow nation" and yet discriminate against
us with their pro-black policies. How is that different from Apartheid?
I think it's time South
Africa
Some of us are really trying to move on and fully accept each other but
things like BEE and affirmative action make it harder for me as a white person
to feel patriotic about a country that wants to punish me for being white”.
To open the media sources hold "CTRL" key and click on the shortcut.
(55*)
BBC News Africa -- Does race still matter in
South Africa
(56*) Stormfront.org -- Discrimination against Whites
has pushed many Whites out of the labour force
(57*) Politics Web -- ANC's "second
phase" openly aimed at "white males" http://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CE8QFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsweb.co.za%2Fpoliticsweb%2Fview%2Fpoliticsweb%2Fen%2Fpage71619%3Foid%3D314818%26sn%3DDetail%26pid%3D71619&ei=3BPvUOGlD8bNhAeF8oGoAg&usg=AFQjCNE_IPC6SE4zQDdfNP8rxGgyxkcNWQ&sig2=nA-dqBxWv1XEGitKw-b_uw
·
WHY DO
WHITES RESENT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION?
o They feel that affirmative action has already
deprived them for close to 20 years from an opportunity to compete fairly in
the labour market. They experience affirmative action as an ongoing, never
ending process. (58*) Mail and Guardian reports Government’s intentions as:
“the party needs to introduce a ‘second transition’ that focuses on the social
and economic transformation of South
Africa
Could one assume that
affirmative action would always support the second transition, and hence
continue for the next 30 to 50 years? This, white people feel amount to
indefinite discrimination, similar to Apartheid stretching over many years. The
reaching of set population ratio targets does seemingly not deter affirmative
action appointments.
o
Large numbers of whites feel that it is unfair
to subject the white youth to the same stringent affirmative action measures,
especially those born after the abolishment of Apartheid.
o
Whites experience that affirmative action often goes
hand in hand with cadre deployment. Large numbers of cadres are political
appointments, reporting to the party with very little accountability to achieve
service delivery and other work targets.
o
Affirmative action is perceived as a “political
numbers game” with little or now emphasis on human resources growth and
development. Quantity as apposed to quality seems to matter.
o
Because of an apparent absence of development
intentions, affirmative action and cadre appointees are frequently not
sufficiently trained or able to perform the work. Whites are of opinion that
this lowers standard and courses large scale service delivery failure.
o
Affirmative action is seen as overwhelmingly rigid.
Whites are simply turned away because of skin colour, even if no competent
blacks are available.
o
Many whites feel that affirmative action is
inherently creating a culture where sub standard work has become the norm.
To open the media sources hold "CTRL" key and click on the shortcut.
(58*) Mail and Guardian – Zuma, second
transition is the right thing, only thing
Did
affirmative action turn into a gaol in itself?
If this should happen, it will narrow
Government’s perspective on affirmative action substantively; intensifying its focus
on the “enemy”, instead of the needs of the “previously deprived”; growing,
developing, nurturing and preparing them to proudly take up their place in
society and compete on equal footing for positions.
What
expectations do whites have of the New South Africa
Many whites saw a bright future for
themselves and South Africa
(59*) "Never,
never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again
experience the oppression of one by another."
(60*) Others reading the President’s autobiography find little or no
confirmation of his philosophy and promises in practice: “It was
during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own
people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew
as well as anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the
oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred.
He is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly
free, if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not
free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike
are robbed of their humanity”, he said.
To what extent does the list of Acts and Transformation
Plans, targeting most facets of the everyday life of the white population (60*)
“take away someone else's freedom” or “rob his/her humanity”?
Like blacks during the Apartheid era, whites
ask: What is fair? (61*) Some recall the Bill of Right and its promise:
“You cannot be discriminated against”, but are nonetheless confronted with the
harsh reality of: “But fair
discrimination is allowed!”
One thing remaining “fact” in the
mind of most whites is that the ANC intentionally structured Government to ensure
an “unfair” advantage to the previously deprived. This whites feel, constitute
discrimination similar to Apartheid.
To open the media sources hold "CTRL" key and click on the shortcut.
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(59*) Hub Pages -- What happened in South Africa
(60*)
Long walk to freedom – Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
(61*) Word Press --
Adventure Qualifications -- The Bill of Rights (wording)
· AFFIRMATIVE
ACTION LEGISLATION AND PROGRAMMES: THE RESULT OF EMOTIONAL IDEOLOGY?
Some whites find it difficult to
understand and accept the rationale or motivation behind legislation
specifically directed at them as whites.
Were reason, practice and logic,
consciously suppressed? Did the overwhelming need to redress inequalities caused
by Apartheid, blind Government from reality, to the extent that long-term moral
considerations were pushed into non-existence?
Outcomes Based Education (OBE), one
of Government’s “programmes” provides interesting information.
ANC politicians openly admit that OBE was founded on
emotional ideology, overshadowing reality and reason. (62*) Minister of Basic
Education Angie Motshekga states that: “The excitement generated by the era of
democracy was to blame. Christian national education entrenched the supremacy
of whites and Bantu education was clearly meant to keep blacks in servitude. We
needed a new beginning, and OBE’s values were attractive because we derived our
principles from democracy. OBE’s principles were close to what South Africa
Most people would agree that an educational matter
such as OBE could be accepted to generate far less “excitement” and emotion
than affirmative action.
What effect did the “excitement” of affirmative action
as hypersensitive issue have on the structuring of affirmative action?
To open the media sources hold "CTRL" key and click on the shortcut.
(62*) City Press – OBE gets overhauled –
25 July 2010
·
HOW FAR WOULD GOVERNMENT GO TO ESTABLISH
SOCIO-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION?
(63*) Times Live reports
President Zuma to say that: “The time has come to do something more drastic to
accelerate change towards economic transformation and freedom. The ownership of
the economy is still primarily in the hands of white males, in which it has
always been”.
A number of Constitutional Court
(64*) In this regard a strategy
and tactics discussion document was prepared for the ANC’s National Policy
Conference in June 2012. It stated: “Elements of the Constitution have to be
reviewed as they may be slowing down South Africa
(65*) The
300 000 strong Cosatu affiliated National
Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) was more specific in its demands.
Mail and Guardian reports that the union “wants the Policy Conference to discuss the review of the Constitution,
including changes to the property clause, as some within the ANC-led alliance
see the clause as ‘an impediment’ to social and economic transformation”.
The union makes it
clear that: “The property clause must be dumped so that we can take back the land
and key strategic sectors of the economy without compensation, and in our view
it’s time for a thorough [return to] national democratic revolution that takes
the class alliance led by the ANC back to its true revolutionary character.”
In simple terms, why did the ANC Government judge
it necessary to change the Constitution?
o
Socio-economic transformation could be compared
to a political game. Government is allowed to set the “rules of the game”
within the constraints of the Constitution. It did exactly this, producing a
large number of Acts, programmes and plans, but could over a period of 18 years
not win the Socio-economic transformation game.
o
One of the key excuses for its insufficient
progress is blaming the Constitution as “an
impediment to social and economic transformation in the country”, with the
most obvious response to change the Constitution. Changing it could boil down
to altering the very heart of the socio-economic transformation game, allowing
transformation to triumph as victor, no matter what.
The reality of loosing overseas’
goodwill and investment, did however convince Government to tone down its plans
and pursue “other ways”, less noticeable and dramatic, to “reach the same
goal”.
“Super tax” seemed to be the
answer.
(66*) Mail and Guardian reports
that National Planning Commission Minister, Trevor Manuel describes Government’s
proposed tax approach as an “ideal South African solution”. Initial indications are that it
may include a 50% tax on the sale of mining rights, a windfall tax of up to 50%
on super-profits and a reduction in royalty tax from 4% to 1%”.
Peter Leon (head of the African
Mining and Energy Practice Group at Webber Wentzel) however describes the tax
proposal as “nationalisation by stealth”. We are more than aware of the storm
the ANC nationalisation discussions caused.
(67*) Global Post reports that this tax approach sounds like
nationalization to foreign investors and could have the same effect: “The
ruling African National Congress said it wanted mining companies to contribute
more to the country’s social welfare, possibly through a so-called “super tax.”
It also said that it is considering giving the state mining company a greater
share of “strategic” minerals.”
“That kind of talk, however, sounds like nationalization to foreign
investors. And now they are getting nervous, imperiling further what once was South Africa
The Chamber of Mines, which represents several international mining
giants, warned that the imposition of a super tax could “well be the tipping
point at which foreign investors choose to overlook the South African mining industry as an acceptable
destination for their investment capital."
Super taxation, nationalisation,
confiscation, abolishment of the willing buyer, willing seller, which will it
be and how far will it be pushed?
To open the media sources hold "CTRL" key and click on the shortcut.
(63*) Times Live -- ANC's second
transition vital, says Zuma http://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=11&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CIMBEBYwCg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.timeslive.co.za%2Fpolitics%2F2012%2F06%2F26%2Fanc-s-second-transition-vital-says-zuma&ei=6bH1UNixOsjQhAfEtoDQDQ&usg=AFQjCNEpl14NJtW_usHC20Z6jafePOjIVA&sig2=7-7zCnPEdyBuALBCeQZI2A
(64*) Times Live -- Battle
(65*) Mail and Guardian -- NUMSA targets
land reform, the Constitution -- and Pravin
or
(66*) Mail
and Guardian -- Mining super tax will make foreign investors jittery
(67*) Global
Post -- Is South Africa
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