Most people will tell you that application of the South African government's policies such as Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Action sounds good on paper and was seen as the best step forward, given our history of deep-seated sense of inferiority and the disfiguring vestiges of apartheid, still in the harsh realities of the real world it really comes across as too indiscreet,foolhardy,inattentive,inconsiderate,mindless, imprudent and venturesome.
Others disagree and sees this policy as just the process of change and political transition which remains too difficult to define properly for some inside and outside South Africa.
For nearly two decades now South Africa's political climate, its trends,development and decision-making process had probably been the most crucial and eventful ever.
Desmond Tutu calls BEE a "powder keg because millions are living in dehumanising poverty... and that Black Economic Empowerment only serves an elite few". Do you agree with that or not?
Mangosuthu Buthelezi said:"the government's reckless implementation of the affirmative action policy is forcing many white people to leave the country, creating a skill shortage crisis..."
Where do stand on this issue and how could the Government get this important application of their policy so very wrong? Has BEE and AA has given rise to a new version of racial pride?
Apartheid rule gave white people the distorted,unbalanced and exaggerated view that our race is superior,more advanced and far grander that the rest and that other races in our country was different or inferior or far below. What made it worse is how very little we had to deal with people of other races which powerfully influenced your thinking. We failed to see eye to eye on matters in the country.
Unfortunately even in modern day South Africa the unbalanced and distorted attitude towards race leads to oppression and mistreatment of the other person or persons.
Studies have highlighted the fact, that race glorifications(putting your own race first and foremost) can lead to a lack of self-respect in others. Inglorious bastards that seem praiseworthy almost.
In an attempt to correct the "Evils of the past",the new Democratic South Africa,thought BEE and AA would sufficiently alleviate race inequality,but it seems instead that the policy bred a new form of racism and racial pride. Do you agree?
We South Africans generally holds very diverse opinions about the process and perceived successes of transitional changes. The magnitude of social change brought about through Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Actions,carries one consensual fact:
"The ANC Government's goal of transforming the ownership and composition of our economy to reflect the country’s demographics more accurately has thus far worsen our situation."
A current government of ours that is more concerned with the darker arts of political survival then a reasonable competent policy strategy as its next port of call. Has Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Actions caused a new form of unhealthy racial attitudes in South Africa?
Is South Africa the breeding ground for the obnoxious and bigoted? Has transformation policies been given too much emphasis by the media spotlight?Does any race have the right to feel superior to another even with BEE and AA in place?
Newsweek magazine once wrote:"To scientists who have looked into the myth of racial superiority, race is a notoriously slippery concept that eludes any serious attempt at definition. True, there may be observable differences in skin colour, hair texture and the shape of one’s eyes or nose. However, these differences are at best superficial—and try as they will, scientists have been broadly unable to come up with any significant set of differences that distinguish one racial group from another...The bottom line, to most scientists working in these fields, is that race is a mere ‘social construct’—a corrupt mixture of prejudice, superstition and myth."
The New Encyclopædia Britannica observes: "There are no pure races; all racial groups currently existing are thoroughly mixed...Regardless of skin colour, hair texture, or facial features, there is really just one race—the human race."
If the ANC and others,whomever becomes our next Government,can recognize that all races are equal,it can have a dramatic effect on the way they view themselves and others.
It could be the right step in treating others with dignity and respect, and to appreciate and admire ours and their differences. If you have something to be proud of,then so does the person next to you regardless of his or her race.
So South Africa's BEE and AA just thoughtless imprudence and venturesome or responsible necesssity?What do you think?
Reference:
1.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Economic_Empowerment.
2.The New Encyclopædia Britannica.
3.Newsweek magazine.
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