Affirmative action FTW
Here's a terrible case for your review:
http://news.iafrica.com/sa/943006.html
"The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has released a statement saying affirmative action kills babies. In the statement, it says race-based policies are being used as a veil to conceal corruption and incompetence and many vulnerable communities are paying a deadly price for this. It cites the deaths of three babies in the Bloemhof Municipality blamed on contaminated drinking water as an example."
Well, perhaps real incompetence is indeed the elephant in the room here. I know, this country has seen a lot of injustice being done to the black majority, disenfranchising it and keeping it marginalized, using violence to suppress its aspirations, preventing it from unraveling its potential through widespread discriminatory practices that affirmative action has strived to rectify ever since the (at least nominal) dismantling of apartheid.
But two decades have passed now, and apartheid can no longer serve as the sole excuse for our problems. The fact is, consistently putting people into job positions which they cannot manage, puts pressure on the person themselves, and causes damage and even deaths in the process, like in this case. Or like in Marikana. I'm sure that a nationwide mentorship program from 1994 would have empowered black South Africans properly, not just with money and status - and I'm sure our resident social worker(s) here would confirm that. The fact is, most people want to feel good and accomplished about what they do, and to deliver accordingly. So when they're given alms that they're taught to take for granted instead, naturally they will not deliver.
There has been an argument for quite a while around here, and not just from the opposition Democratic Alliance and the white/coloured community whose interests, let's face it, it predominantly represents, that the whole affirmative action policy is inherently racist, so it's natural that there'd always be racial overtones to any discussion involving it, whether for or against - so it will never be completely possible to run away from that aspect of the debate. The argument is that the average South African has had very little if any benefit from this policy in its present form and it should be reviewed, if not completely abolished.
Affirmative action is neither pro black nor anti-white per se, but indeed in practice rather than a solution, it has become the new chain around black South Africa's neck - a chain of inferiority where no black person can be afforded the notion that they are worth what they are being paid or deserve their jobs on merit alone, but are to rely on their ethnic origin and the skin of their color instead.
So, you see, it is no surprise that we're now witnessing cases where affirmative action has cost lives. Because, rather than raising people to higher standards, we've been putting barriers to entry in the paths of the competent so that the incompetent and most corrupt may thrive. And they sure have taken full benefit from that, now having created a whole newly emerged class of upjumped incompetent ANC party tools whose only function is to get in line and vote accordingly, and enforce the party line in industries, municipalities and communities whenever required - in exchange for nice stable jobs for which they're otherwise completely incompetent. And who's the one to pay the cost for the inevitable failures? You guessed right: the people.
How do we educate people to the standards that our society and economy truly needs and deserves? Or to the salary levels that we generally aspire to? Well, it seems the government has decided that bashing our heads against a wall wasn't providing the solutions we need - so now it's going to resort to bashing our heads against the wall even harder.
http://news.iafrica.com/sa/943006.html
"The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has released a statement saying affirmative action kills babies. In the statement, it says race-based policies are being used as a veil to conceal corruption and incompetence and many vulnerable communities are paying a deadly price for this. It cites the deaths of three babies in the Bloemhof Municipality blamed on contaminated drinking water as an example."
Well, perhaps real incompetence is indeed the elephant in the room here. I know, this country has seen a lot of injustice being done to the black majority, disenfranchising it and keeping it marginalized, using violence to suppress its aspirations, preventing it from unraveling its potential through widespread discriminatory practices that affirmative action has strived to rectify ever since the (at least nominal) dismantling of apartheid.
But two decades have passed now, and apartheid can no longer serve as the sole excuse for our problems. The fact is, consistently putting people into job positions which they cannot manage, puts pressure on the person themselves, and causes damage and even deaths in the process, like in this case. Or like in Marikana. I'm sure that a nationwide mentorship program from 1994 would have empowered black South Africans properly, not just with money and status - and I'm sure our resident social worker(s) here would confirm that. The fact is, most people want to feel good and accomplished about what they do, and to deliver accordingly. So when they're given alms that they're taught to take for granted instead, naturally they will not deliver.
There has been an argument for quite a while around here, and not just from the opposition Democratic Alliance and the white/coloured community whose interests, let's face it, it predominantly represents, that the whole affirmative action policy is inherently racist, so it's natural that there'd always be racial overtones to any discussion involving it, whether for or against - so it will never be completely possible to run away from that aspect of the debate. The argument is that the average South African has had very little if any benefit from this policy in its present form and it should be reviewed, if not completely abolished.
Affirmative action is neither pro black nor anti-white per se, but indeed in practice rather than a solution, it has become the new chain around black South Africa's neck - a chain of inferiority where no black person can be afforded the notion that they are worth what they are being paid or deserve their jobs on merit alone, but are to rely on their ethnic origin and the skin of their color instead.
So, you see, it is no surprise that we're now witnessing cases where affirmative action has cost lives. Because, rather than raising people to higher standards, we've been putting barriers to entry in the paths of the competent so that the incompetent and most corrupt may thrive. And they sure have taken full benefit from that, now having created a whole newly emerged class of upjumped incompetent ANC party tools whose only function is to get in line and vote accordingly, and enforce the party line in industries, municipalities and communities whenever required - in exchange for nice stable jobs for which they're otherwise completely incompetent. And who's the one to pay the cost for the inevitable failures? You guessed right: the people.
How do we educate people to the standards that our society and economy truly needs and deserves? Or to the salary levels that we generally aspire to? Well, it seems the government has decided that bashing our heads against a wall wasn't providing the solutions we need - so now it's going to resort to bashing our heads against the wall even harder.