BEE - Blind economic Empowerment

Blind Economic Empowerment - BEE

The racial economic empowerment strategies are being stepped up in South Africa again. It beats me how people can justify laws that cripple the economy. Both the black empowered and the white suppressed see empowerment from different angles. As it has been said: "the argument is whether the stripes on the Zebra is white or black". However I am sure that if one looks closely at the whole zebra one will discover its basic color and that of the stripes. Both belongs to the same zebra

From where I "kyk die kat van die boom uit" I just see that every month someone I know leaves the country. Most of them are highly educated, qualified rich and skilled successful managers or company owners. Their expertise will be lost for South Africa but will widen the gap between first and third world economies. Many of them built their companies up from scratch. Some were involved with charity ventures. All employed people of all races and they also employed domestic workers and gardeners. Their workers and colleges may have became unemployed when their businesses changed hands or closed down. Their places got filled by less skilled workers or skilled workers and managers who could have filled other posts or started their own or other companies to fill the growing unemployment gaps.

To convince me that this trend does not harm the economy I will need to see statistics to prove it. Not the "duim gesuigde" statistics but real ones.

There are more black people in Africa so if economic empowerment was employed to the children born in freedom seventeen years ago, we would today been faced with a majority of black highly well educated children waiting to enter university and in a very short time the economic imbalances would have been something of the past. Instead we sit with a massive skills and jobs shortage. Starving people are pouring over the borders looking for more jobs and politicians who still try to saddle the sick striped economic zebra. Poor people still do not have money to pay for first class education for their children.

In 1990 when I worked in a maternity hospital the race of babies born (at least that year) were left from the birth certificates. Intermarriage were no longer frowned upon. Within a very short time these children will be entering the job market. Will the government be using Natzi statistics to determine who qualify for empowerment then?

Forget empowerment laws. Concentrate on new jobs for the surplus black skilled people who are ready to contribute to the economy. This cake is big enough to share.