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THE furore about the DA’s erratic course regarding the equity employment amendment bill illustrates a deep truth about South Africa. It appears that for the greater part of its recent history, ideology has been everything and economic common sense played second fiddle.
Of course, it is easy to spot the mistakes made by the National Party government in its heyday. Even so, some of their actions seem to be screaming against rational thinking.
For Grand Apartheid – the geographic partitioning of the country – to succeed, certain conditions had to be met.
First of all, the "homelands" had to be geographically big enough to house by far the majority of the blacks. And for that to happen, millions of rands would have to be pumped into the development of the regions.
However, prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, who used to be a psychology and sociology professor, thought that he could ride roughshod over mere factors like economy and demography, simply because his ideology did not recognise them as being important.
Thus, in parliament he repeatedly expounded a most strange view of what economic integration – needless to say, a very bad thing – meant.
No, he said, economic integration has nothing to do with the presence of millions of black workers in the "white" economy. Economic integration was a situation where – oh, horrors! – blacks worked on the same level as whites, or even as their superiors.
Besides, he said, around 1978 (remember, this was the early 1960s) the blacks would start to flow back to their homelands. Note, these were the same homelands which he refused to enlargen substantially and where he forbade the investment of "white" capital.
Never mind the jobs created by "white" capital; this type of investment would bring about economic integration, which could then be exported to the "white" areas.
Verwoerd was an exceedingly intelligent man, charismatic and with a forceful personality. But South Africa also was seldomly led by a more stupid man.
He was a typical example of someone led astray by ideology. The word ideology is here being used in the sense of a framework of thought which prescribes to one how the world must look, instead of helping to clarify how it really looks.
The ANC’s social engineering regarding the racial composition of the economy borders on the same insanity. Their racially based ideology prescribes a rigid racial quota, conforming to the racial composition of the country in all walks of life.
The first phase of this policy has been completed in public service; now the private sector is awaiting its turn.
Let one be absolutely clear. Nobody in his right mind can be against black advancement, either in public service or the private sector. But ideology must not trump economic common sense.
In practice, it has happen umpteen times that a senior position is either left vacant because a white appointee would upset the race quota apple cart, or a political appointee – without the necessary qualifications of experience – is put in it. And those political appointees would invariably be ANC cadre deployments.
In Afrikaans this is called "baantjies vir boeties" – jobs for pals (the same thing the white government also did). Other names for it would be corruption or nepotism.
Into this climate the equity employment amendment bill has now been introduced. According to liberal commentator Bill Johnson, 75% of a company’s managers and directors would henceforth have to be black African.
In an ideal situation it would not matter if 100% of them were black, as long as they were up to the job. Far be it from me to imply that blacks cannot qualify for this description, but, mainly due to our apartheid and colonial past, blacks still lag behind.
We have seen the consequences. The few qualified blacks are aggressively hunted by companies, and they often become permanent job-hoppers, able to earn astounding salaries.
We have also seen the start of foreign investors voting with their feet. With the whole world open to investors, the "hassle factor" has become a real impediment.
It is, of course, impossible to calculate how many potential investors are being deterred by measures as the one we are discussing. But we do know of several international companies which are moving their African headquarters from Johannesburg or Cape Town to Nairobi or Lagos – and that gives one an indication of the growing discontent.
In the old South Africa, it was thought that if the ideology was right, the rest would follow. Of course, that is not how it worked, and the then government’s social engineering collapsed in the end, battered to pieces on the rocks of the economy and demography.
Alas, the ANC government appears to be making a similar mistake. And one is afraid of similar consequences.
- Fin24
*Leopold Scholtz is an independent political analyst who lives in Europe. Views expressed are his own.
Of course, it is easy to spot the mistakes made by the National Party government in its heyday. Even so, some of their actions seem to be screaming against rational thinking.
For Grand Apartheid – the geographic partitioning of the country – to succeed, certain conditions had to be met.
First of all, the "homelands" had to be geographically big enough to house by far the majority of the blacks. And for that to happen, millions of rands would have to be pumped into the development of the regions.
However, prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, who used to be a psychology and sociology professor, thought that he could ride roughshod over mere factors like economy and demography, simply because his ideology did not recognise them as being important.
Thus, in parliament he repeatedly expounded a most strange view of what economic integration – needless to say, a very bad thing – meant.
No, he said, economic integration has nothing to do with the presence of millions of black workers in the "white" economy. Economic integration was a situation where – oh, horrors! – blacks worked on the same level as whites, or even as their superiors.
Besides, he said, around 1978 (remember, this was the early 1960s) the blacks would start to flow back to their homelands. Note, these were the same homelands which he refused to enlargen substantially and where he forbade the investment of "white" capital.
Never mind the jobs created by "white" capital; this type of investment would bring about economic integration, which could then be exported to the "white" areas.
Verwoerd was an exceedingly intelligent man, charismatic and with a forceful personality. But South Africa also was seldomly led by a more stupid man.
He was a typical example of someone led astray by ideology. The word ideology is here being used in the sense of a framework of thought which prescribes to one how the world must look, instead of helping to clarify how it really looks.
The ANC’s social engineering regarding the racial composition of the economy borders on the same insanity. Their racially based ideology prescribes a rigid racial quota, conforming to the racial composition of the country in all walks of life.
The first phase of this policy has been completed in public service; now the private sector is awaiting its turn.
Let one be absolutely clear. Nobody in his right mind can be against black advancement, either in public service or the private sector. But ideology must not trump economic common sense.
In practice, it has happen umpteen times that a senior position is either left vacant because a white appointee would upset the race quota apple cart, or a political appointee – without the necessary qualifications of experience – is put in it. And those political appointees would invariably be ANC cadre deployments.
In Afrikaans this is called "baantjies vir boeties" – jobs for pals (the same thing the white government also did). Other names for it would be corruption or nepotism.
Into this climate the equity employment amendment bill has now been introduced. According to liberal commentator Bill Johnson, 75% of a company’s managers and directors would henceforth have to be black African.
In an ideal situation it would not matter if 100% of them were black, as long as they were up to the job. Far be it from me to imply that blacks cannot qualify for this description, but, mainly due to our apartheid and colonial past, blacks still lag behind.
We have seen the consequences. The few qualified blacks are aggressively hunted by companies, and they often become permanent job-hoppers, able to earn astounding salaries.
We have also seen the start of foreign investors voting with their feet. With the whole world open to investors, the "hassle factor" has become a real impediment.
It is, of course, impossible to calculate how many potential investors are being deterred by measures as the one we are discussing. But we do know of several international companies which are moving their African headquarters from Johannesburg or Cape Town to Nairobi or Lagos – and that gives one an indication of the growing discontent.
In the old South Africa, it was thought that if the ideology was right, the rest would follow. Of course, that is not how it worked, and the then government’s social engineering collapsed in the end, battered to pieces on the rocks of the economy and demography.
Alas, the ANC government appears to be making a similar mistake. And one is afraid of similar consequences.
- Fin24
*Leopold Scholtz is an independent political analyst who lives in Europe. Views expressed are his own.
