Cuban appointments a sign of failed affirmative action model - Solidarity

The announcement by Water Affairs Minister Edna Molewa that 34 engineers of Cuban origin will be given preferential employment in the public sector is an admission of the failure of the current affirmative action model, trade union Solidarity said today.

According to Dirk Groenewald, head of Solidarity's Centre for Fair Labour Practices, the length to which government has now shown itself to be willing to go to limit the number of white people employed in the public service has reached a new low. ‘Solidarity has warned many times before that government's inflexible commitment to racial demographic representation will lead to a collapse of the executive capabilities of the public sector. Rather than scrapping affirmative action requirements for appointments where critical skills are needed, Molewa adds insult to injury by giving preferential treatment to Cuban engineers with no experience of local conditions.'

Groenewald said this situation is perhaps one of the clearest indications to date that positions in essential services affecting any one or more of the rights contained in the Constitution must be exempted from affirmative action requirements.

Government's insistence that there are too few engineers available or interested in the positions that are advertised simply underscores the reality of a deficient skills pipeline due to a dysfunctional public education system. ‘Too few black engineers are qualifying to possibly satisfy the requirements of a policy of racial representation. Government's recruitment of Cuban engineers is an admittance that it is currently impossible to apply affirmative action without prejudicing service delivery. If it is serious about addressing the problems in the public sector, government will urgently have to reconsider its commitment to the current affirmative action model,' said Groenewald.

Statement issued by Dirk Groenewald, Head: Centre for Fair Labour Practices, Solidarity, September 10 2013

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter