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THE National Union of Metalworkers of SA's (Numsa’s) grumble this week that South Africa’s white workers are paid four times more than other races has prompted the focus of this column to be on a problem which should have been fixed 20 years ago but still persists to this day: unequal pay between races.
Numsa believes that it will take 520 years for Africans to earn the same salary as whites. According to the trade union, unemployment among blacks is swelling. Indigence among blacks is increasing. And disparity in the country is spreading rapidly.
For each jobless white, there are 80 jobless Africans, Numsa said. It said joblessness among Africans surged to 46% in 2012.
Some of Numsa’s figures could not be verified and the union did not say where it got the numbers from. But there is widespread evidence for everyone to prove these figures right. In South Africa, the majority of poor and unemployed people are black. Ask yourself, why is that?
This economic racial discrimination happens at a time when the country has an ANC-led democratic government which ferociously fought previous apartheid governments.
If Numsa’s assertion is anything to go by, it can be concluded that economic discrimination surged further during the current reign of the ANC-led government.
Why is this happening in South Africa in this day and age?
The majority of senior managers in most of South Africa’s JSE-listed firms are still white, according to the annual JSE Empowerment Survey.
I once worked for a white editor - a terrible human being indeed – who often and tirelessly kept asking staff members not to discuss with each other how much they earned.
I can only assume the reason for this was to avoid exposing that he was not paying people according to their qualifications, experience and skills, but because of their skin colour.
This was a couple of years ago and President Jacob Zuma was already president of the country then.
Given the statements Zuma made earlier this week, it is clear that his government has realised that the wealth gap between the races in South Africa is widening with the white race leading the sprint.
Speaking during South Africa's 20-year review in Pretoria this week, Zuma admitted that the biggest barricade to rising social unity in South Africa is the inequality which needs to be attended to further.
“To fight poverty and inequality, a range of pro-poor government policies have been implemented since 1994, which is among South Africa's key achievements,” he was quoted by Independent Newspapers as saying.
If Numsa could have the temerity to say white workers are paid more than double the salaries of other workers, it shows that President Zuma’s pro-poor policies are not working and have not even begun to scratch the surface.
Numsa believes that the ANC-led government is pleased to give out social grants. However, the jobless want proper, decent jobs instead of grants, it says.
Grants teach people to rely on handouts and do nothing for themselves. The Chinese believe that teaching people to fish is better than giving them fish. We should adopt this too.
There are many young, unskilled people in the rural areas and the townships of South Africa who are unemployed and doing nothing at all for days on end.
You’ll hear them say they are waiting for the time when they will qualify for old age grants.
The blame for unequal salaries between races lies squarely on the ANC-led government, which has allowed this to happen right under its nose.
Something should have been done a long time ago to address this issue. Systems to check this out should have been put in place.
- Fin24
*Mzwandile Jacks is an independent journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.
Numsa believes that it will take 520 years for Africans to earn the same salary as whites. According to the trade union, unemployment among blacks is swelling. Indigence among blacks is increasing. And disparity in the country is spreading rapidly.
For each jobless white, there are 80 jobless Africans, Numsa said. It said joblessness among Africans surged to 46% in 2012.
Some of Numsa’s figures could not be verified and the union did not say where it got the numbers from. But there is widespread evidence for everyone to prove these figures right. In South Africa, the majority of poor and unemployed people are black. Ask yourself, why is that?
This economic racial discrimination happens at a time when the country has an ANC-led democratic government which ferociously fought previous apartheid governments.
If Numsa’s assertion is anything to go by, it can be concluded that economic discrimination surged further during the current reign of the ANC-led government.
Why is this happening in South Africa in this day and age?
The majority of senior managers in most of South Africa’s JSE-listed firms are still white, according to the annual JSE Empowerment Survey.
I once worked for a white editor - a terrible human being indeed – who often and tirelessly kept asking staff members not to discuss with each other how much they earned.
I can only assume the reason for this was to avoid exposing that he was not paying people according to their qualifications, experience and skills, but because of their skin colour.
This was a couple of years ago and President Jacob Zuma was already president of the country then.
Given the statements Zuma made earlier this week, it is clear that his government has realised that the wealth gap between the races in South Africa is widening with the white race leading the sprint.
Speaking during South Africa's 20-year review in Pretoria this week, Zuma admitted that the biggest barricade to rising social unity in South Africa is the inequality which needs to be attended to further.
“To fight poverty and inequality, a range of pro-poor government policies have been implemented since 1994, which is among South Africa's key achievements,” he was quoted by Independent Newspapers as saying.
If Numsa could have the temerity to say white workers are paid more than double the salaries of other workers, it shows that President Zuma’s pro-poor policies are not working and have not even begun to scratch the surface.
Numsa believes that the ANC-led government is pleased to give out social grants. However, the jobless want proper, decent jobs instead of grants, it says.
Grants teach people to rely on handouts and do nothing for themselves. The Chinese believe that teaching people to fish is better than giving them fish. We should adopt this too.
There are many young, unskilled people in the rural areas and the townships of South Africa who are unemployed and doing nothing at all for days on end.
You’ll hear them say they are waiting for the time when they will qualify for old age grants.
The blame for unequal salaries between races lies squarely on the ANC-led government, which has allowed this to happen right under its nose.
Something should have been done a long time ago to address this issue. Systems to check this out should have been put in place.
- Fin24
*Mzwandile Jacks is an independent journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.
