Pretoria - Affirmative action is working against South Africa, Trevor Tutu
told a conference on the issue in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Tutu, the son of Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said
affirmative action made young South Africans bitter and they then
left the country to work elsewhere, taking their skills with them.
"In this manner we are exporting our children to sustain other
countries at our expense... including former colonial masters," he
told the Solidarity conference on affirmative action in Pretoria.
"What do you call it, when my daughter gets a scholarship to
study and her white counterpart could not get the scholarship,
based on colour?"
He said that 15 years into democracy South Africa could have
created equal opportunities for all and that people should not be
judged according to mistakes committed by their forefathers.
"Race is not useful for anything," he said.
Professor Marinus Wiechers said the apartheid system was based
on an extensive system of racial classification.
"Based on this racial designation, the white population was
advantaged and other racial groups were reduced to inferior
citizens. Racial classification has created inequalities over the
whole spectrum of the South African society and was the principal
inciter of racist sentiments," he said.
He said affirmative action in its variety of forms had
imported a new form of racial classification.
The generic determination was that "blacks" meant black people
(Africans), coloured people and Indians.
"This new type of arbitrary racial classification led to a
variety of contradictory, unfair and unconstitutional practices."
Affirmative action, as currently applied, had a paralysing and
negative impact on nearly all areas of public administration. At
the same time, it had become the foremost breeding ground for
racism and racist sentiments, he said.
Professor Terence Gomez from the University of Malaya said the
lesson Malaysia learnt from affirmative action was that it was a
sound policy to rectify historical social injustices, but after the
short term the policy must expand the range of targeted groups and
individuals based on class position.
Hinders enterprise
"Targeting and selective patronage in business without
transparency has serious repercussions, unsustainable in the long run.
"It undermines economic growth, and hinders domestic enterprise
development."
Solidarity spokesperson Dirk Hermann said his organisation had
called the conference to discuss how affirmative action was
accepted in other countries and whether it had been successful.
Hermann said that according to Solidarity's research affirmative
action had failed in many countries.
"In America 24% of Americans want it and the rest do
not...there is something wrong with affirmative action and that
needs to be corrected. We do not have to do away with the whole
concept but to correct the mistakes," he said.
Former state president FW de Klerk opened the conference, reiterating his stance that affirmative action was unfair.
"The manner in which affirmative action is implemented does not
promote equality but it discriminates unfairly," he said.
De Klerk said affirmative action must promote equality and
black economic empowerment must create opportunities for all and
not for a selected elite.
- Sapa