As a country that is haemorrhaging skills through emigration as a result of ideological discrimination, the fact that a debate on employment equity is even occurring reflects the poverty of our politics.
Equity is a synonym for discrimination. It prioritises opportunity for individuals and classes with specific or unique needs. In so doing, it scorns and disparages the principle of equality and ignores the crucial element of merit.
In a sane and rational environment, equity has no place in the hierarchy of competence. In a free society, initiative and enterprise are stifled when they are shackled to an ideology that coerces equity in employment.
The post-apartheid era, which was supposed to be based on non-racialism, abounds with the blatant results of employment equity coercion and BEE – widespread dysfunctionalism and impoverishment.
The wilful marginalisation of skills through employment equity defies logic and has to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. It makes a mockery of the preamble of the constitution which asserts that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it” because a sense of belonging is not matched by a sense of opportunity.
The great irony of employment equity is that by marginalising racial minorities, it has negatively affected the black majority. Since 1994, more blacks are mired in poverty and unemployment has tripled. This is a result of ignoring a fundamental reality which I expressed in 2019: the welfare of the majority depends on the security of the minorities.
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