Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, has moved to classify affirmative action in South Africa into four distinct approaches.<\/p>\n
One approach is \u201crepresentivity\u201d<\/strong>, which is another word for \u201cquotas\u201d, the DA lead said. Representivity aims to achieve a situation in which every employment category, at every level in any institution, company or government department, reflects the racial ratios of the broader population.<\/p>\n At national level, on the basis of the 2011 census, this would be 79.2% black African, 8.9% white, 8.9% coloured, 2.5% Indian. “In this approach, race classification and \u201crace proportionality\u201d usually trump all other considerations,” Zille said.<\/p>\n According to the DA, the second approach is \u201ccadre deployment\u201d<\/strong>, which describes the way the ruling party, the ANC uses \u201cracial preferment\u201d as a smokescreen to ensure that party loyalists control all institutions of the state, the economy, and civil society.<\/p>\n “The ANC even has a formal \u201cdeployment committee\u201d to undertake this task. In this approach, loyalty to the ANC (or a faction within the ANC) overrides all other considerations, while \u201crace\u201d is merely a convenient fig leaf used to camouflage the strategy of \u201ccapturing\u201d all key institutions, private and public, and bending them to the ANC\u2019s agenda,” Zille said.<\/p>\n The third approach, the political party lead pointed to is the promotion of \u201cdiversity\u201d<\/strong>. “This involves a conscious effort to redress the effects of past discrimination through broadening opportunity, advancing people\u2019s potential through training and mentorship, improving education, and growing the economy to promote inclusivity.”<\/p>\n According to Zille, it is possible to incorporate diversity \u201ctargets\u201d in this approach, without turning them into quotas, and while still ensuring that other criteria (such as capacity to do the job, relevant experience and qualifications) remain central to employment and promotion decisions.<\/p>\n The fourth approach regards any form of affirmative action as \u201creverse racism\u201d or \u201ccompromising on merit\u201d<\/strong> and rejects it unequivocally, the DA said.<\/p>\n The DA said it supports option 3 for three reasons:<\/p>\n Zille pointed out that option 3 is not an exact science. The party has therefore developed the concept of \u201cfitness for purpose\u201d, which includes, but\u00a0 not limited to, the attainment of diversity.<\/p>\n “It also includes qualifications, experience, track record, potential and other relevant factors. It opens opportunities for people to prove themselves, but does not manipulate race-based outcomes according to numerical formulae,” Zille said.<\/p>\n The constitutional approach to affirmative action is defined by clauses 9 (1) and (2) of the Bill of Rights:<\/p>\n “A crucial point about clause 9 (2) is that it says nothing about race. It speaks about disadvantage. This distinction will become more and more relevant over time, as education and economic opportunity erode the legacy of apartheid, and disadvantage is less defined by race,” Zille said.<\/p>\n State gets tough on BEE fronting<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n
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More on SA politics<\/h3>\n