14 July 2007
Minister Alec Erwin was asked at a recent meeting of the South African
Business Club in London, whether affirmative action was dead in South Africa
and whether government should not do away with it now? The implication was that
affirmative action was exacerbating the skills shortage in the country.
The reply provided by the Minister was a lengthy one but the key points made
were as follows:
* that the affirmative action policy was a necessity and had been successful
by and large
* that it was his view that if we had not implemented the affirmative action
policies, the current skills crisis would have been markedly worse as we would
not have given people the requisite work experience
* that young South Africans should be cautious about listening to people who
stress the problems of affirmative action to essentially make political points;
in this context he dealt with the specific allegations made by Solidarity in
relation to Eskom
* that paradoxically the policy was a dead issue for skilled young whites as
both the evidence and the need for skills showed that in the professions and
managerial positions whites were being employed. Accordingly, for young South
Africans in the audience they should not be misled by the political propaganda
passing as fact.
Issued by: Department of Public Enterprises
14 July 2007
Source: Department of Public Enterprises (http://www.dpe.gov.za)
