An Institute of Race Relations report released Tuesday (7 February) details how racial issues compare to other major concerns in South Africa – such as\u00a0unemployment, poor service delivery, inadequate housing, crime and poor education.<\/p>\n
The report found that only 3% of South Africans see racism as a serious unresolved problem in the country. In comparison, 40% cited unemployment as a serious issue, while poor service delivery (34%) and inadequate housing (18%) rounded up the top three biggest worries.<\/p>\n
Of the 2,291 respondents, surveyed through one-on-one interviews, 72% reported\u00a0no personal experience of racism in their daily lives. In addition, 84% of those surveyed agreed that different races need one another, and that there should be full opportunities for people of all colours.<\/p>\n
In a separate report out this week, the IRR also highlighted the massive transformation at\u00a0senior management levels in the country.<\/p>\n
The group’s data showed that the proportion of top managers who are black has increased from 12.7% in 2000 to 27.6% in 2015\u00a0– or by 117.3%\u00a0overall. The proportion of senior managers who are black has increased to 38.8% in 2015, the group said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf transformation is said to be \u2018held back\u2019\u201a that would be primarily because of failures in education and not a lack of will\u201a\u201dsaid the IRR\u2019s\u00a0chief operating officer\u201a Gwen Ngwenya.<\/p>\n
She noted that while black South Africans accounted for 80.7% of the population\u201a they constituted only 51.4% of all people with a post-matric qualification.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutting in place targets beyond the available pool of skills places an unrealisable goal for employers and will strangle South Africa\u2019s economic growth rate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n