The Freedom Front Plus has called for a national debate on the future of affirmative action in South Africa, saying studies carried out in other countries show that quotas based along racial lines do not work, and that an alternative method of correcting inequality needs to be found.
In a statement on Wednesday, FF + labour spokesman Willie Spies said the African National Congress government had been sending out mixed signals on affirmative action.
He was reacting to a statement made by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana, who said that scrapping affirmative action was ”not on the government’s agenda”. Mdlaldlana made the statement on Tuesday after receiving a Commission for Employment Equity report.
Spies said Mdladlana’s comments seem to contradict statements made recently by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and Sport Minister Makhenkesi Stofile. Both Lekota and Stofile indicated that South Africa should start moving away from arithmetical quotas.
Spies said case studies carried out in India, Malaysia and the United States ”show that in none of these countries has affirmative active succeeded in removing inequalities. Affirmative action is therefore the wrong medicine… and alternatives must be urgently sought,” he said. — Sapa