South Africa: Obsession With Race is a Barrier to Progress

African National Congress (ANC) Youth League president Julius Malema complains bitterly in the latest Sunday Times that the economic cluster needs more colour.

Joined by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa , Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni, he bemoans the fact that the economic cluster and the Reserve Bank are run by a bevy of pigment-challenged comrades. ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, rightly, castigates them for their reference to “minority groups”, a term assiduously eschewed by the ANC in its struggle for nonracialism.

Malema mutters further, and rightly so, that the absence of black people in powerful positions in the economy is not a good message to send out to the youth; yet on that same page he and the former CEO of Lembede Investment Holdings come to blows over the gross mismanagement of that organisation’s finances. Now, who is exemplary? And does race matter?

In that same Sunday Times, a glaring headline New law to stop the gravy train cites the introduction of a new bill to stop the pigs at the procurement trough from killing the economy by awarding themselves tenders worth millions of rands. If Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts is anything to go by, the pigs are of all the colours of the rainbow. To console Malema, it therefore matters not what the colour of the economic cluster is; it matters that President Jacob Zuma is keen to grow a vibrant economy that generates the best revenue to solve the country’s deficit and underdevelopment problems. Accountable fiscal management is the best way to start.

Whether they are white, coloured, or Indian, those comrades heading the economic cluster have earned their struggle credential stripes. Race is irrelevant and some will bend over “blackwards” in their commitment to developing black SA. To call them minorities when they are first and foremost African is to insult them and negate what our post- apartheid constitution is all about.

One of the gravest obstacles to progress is our obsession with racial politics. We cannot deny that black people have been excluded from public life for almost 100 years — 1994, thankfully, restored the majority to its rightful place. This correction, however, in no way means that “minority groups” have no place. The constitution recognises black, coloured, Indian and white people as equal citizens.

People speak so glibly of the “white male” as some distinct species that should be exterminated. This constant objectification of white males is annoying and the reason why so many leave our shores. Since 1995, 850000 white people between the ages of 20 and 40 have left the country. This is exacerbated by the number of black people (coloured and Indian) who are also leaving. According to the Department of Home Affairs, the “critical skills quota list” in 2007 was 35000 in the categories of agricultural economists, engineers, technicians, science and mathematics teachers. This is confirmed by the SA Skilled Labour Report, which cites a chronic shortage of all kinds of engineers, electronics technicians and construction artisans.

Apartheid education so obviously privileged the white male above everyone else that their dominance in the upper echelons of our universities and businesses comes as no surprise. If blacks were equally privileged it follows that black people would similarly have occupied the upper echelons of academia and business. Could it be that our highly qualified doctors, engineers and accountants are leaving our shores in droves because we undervalue them? Unless we retain and lure all the expertise we need to make this economy vibrant, SA will sink into the recession quagmire faster than we think.

After 15 years of democracy, we cannot expect instant parity. It will take at least two generations for SA to produce the number of black skilled people so badly needed by our economy. Many white, coloured and Indian South Africans want to contribute in building this economy because they are patriots. We alienate them at our peril.

Malema, to quote my favourite graffito: “The problem with your gene pool is it does not have enough chlorine!”

Kadalie is a human rights activist based in Cape Town.

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