Racism in the workplace continues to dog corporate South Africa, according to union leaders and black professionals. Yet few individuals who experience racism try to tackle it, preferring to avoid the stress by finding a new job.
Experts say that where individuals do seek legal action, racial discrimination can be extremely difficult to prove. Moreover, the equality courts have played almost no role in combating racism in a corporate environment.
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) reported to Parliament late last year that the majority of cases heard in the equality courts concerned racial discrimination and disability matters. Yet HRC commissioner Karthy Govender said he could only think of one or two cases that were concerned with racism in the workplace.
He said the court would only address matters outside the jurisdiction of the labour court or the CCMA.
About 50% of the grievances that banking union Sasbo receives from its members concern racial discrimination, said Sasbo’s deputy general secretary Ben Venter. Grievances range from not distributing empowerment shares to Chinese workers to derogatory language use and language policy.
The union organises about 60% to 70% of the employees at the four major banks.
Yet Venter said that racism was subtle in the financial sector, compared with industries such as mining, where it might be more explicit. “It’s very difficult to say that it’s motivated by racial discrimination,” he said.
Issues of racial discrimination become more difficult at regional or branch level, where senior management depends on a local manager’s representation of events.
Venter’s perception is that racial discrimination was a bigger issue in the early 1990s, because people from previously disadvantaged backgrounds have greatly increased their participation in the industry since then.
Wits University law professor Tshepo Mosikatsana said a complaint can have a racial dimension depending on how it is characterised. “It is very difficult to prove the racial dimension, so most people prefer to go the route of enforcing rules,” he said.
Venter commented that about 80% of the cases they deal with concern not following company procedure.
“The workplace is fraught with racism,” said Mosikatsana. He added that black upward mobility has been interpreted as encroaching on white territory and not as a levelling of the playing field, which results in serious problems.
He said that often discrimination is subliminal, although it is perceptible. For example, someone might find that their comments are consistently ignored during meetings but it could be difficult to prove that this is because of racism.
“People don’t have the same levels of endurance,” he said, explaining that people often leave a company in response to racism. It is especially difficult for junior staff to combat racism because they lack the clout or knowledge of the company to deal with it as effectively as more senior staff.
“[Bonga Bangani’s] letter really has brought to the fore the whole issue of racism in the workplace,” said Sello Moloko, the president of the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals. “Racism and sexism and other forms of prejudice are quite prevalent in the workplace.”
He said that in some cases people who try to use internal procedures to deal with racism have been pushed out of the company. “People lose confidence in the human resources desk of these companies as they tend to toe the management line,” he said.
“What I find very alarming about corporate South Africa is the indifference of executive management toward racist behaviour, and the tendency to deny it when it comes up,” he said.
Senior people often want to “kill the issue” of racism in an aggressive manner, which might make it difficult for junior people to raise it as a problem. This could have the effect of disillusioning “starry-eyed youngsters” who are excited about the companies they work for.
Moloko says strong mechanisms are necessary to combat racism. This includes having strong black people in the workplace and structures that can be tested by independent outsiders. This gives young black people the opportunity to “prove or disprove” themselves.
Dear Investec, here’s the problem
“Overwhelmed” is how 22-year-old Bonga Bangani feels about becoming an accidental newsmaker this month, with President Thabo Mbeki singling him out in the concluding paragraphs of an open letter.
“There can be no better message to all of us as we celebrate Human Rights Day than these very wise words from a young African professional in his early twenties,” writes Mbeki.
These “wise words” were contained in a carefully structured five-page letter that Bangani wrote to his division head at Investec, Richard Wainwright, on March 5. The letter explains why Bangani chose not to stay on after a year’s internship with the company. It mentions colleagues’ attitudes towards training black employees and he contrasts his experience with that of a white colleague.
Bangani says he witnessed staff leaving Investec without voicing their problems. “It does not make the situation any better for the next person who comes after you.”
Wainwright told the Mail & Guardian that he was “absolutely surprised” by the letter and believes it reflects an isolated incident.
Bangani emphasises that he never intended for his letter to appear in the media, adding that the publicity has been a “real shock”.
He has avoided reading online responses and has been swamped with emails because he included his contact information in the postscript.
Initially, Bangani was reluctant to be interviewed. He laughed when asked for a photograph, responding: “No, I still want to have my life.”
Bangani says he forwarded his letter to some friends with the message that “you do not have to be powerful or have money to change your environment”. He hoped they would find it inspiring.
The letter found its way on to a news website and Investec CEO Stephen Koseff responded by holding a company-wide discussion on transformation issues. This excluded the Cape Town office where Bangani worked “for technical reasons”.
Internet forums have also generated pages of debate over the letter. Some writers are critical, one writing “I suspect he wasn’t suited to fast-paced corporate life. He wasn’t cutting it and decided to pull the race card.”
“How is it playing the race card?” counters Bangani. “I’m not asking for any red carpet treatment. I thrive on competition, that’s why I want to work in the industry. I was just saying why aren’t you being consistent, ya bona? I’m just looking for answers.”
He adds that his letter was not an attack — he never actually fingers anyone as “racist”.
Others online applaud his courage: “Ah, the fearlessness of youth! Men twice his age would shiver in their boots imagining the repercussions of writing that letter.”
Bangani — who graduated from the University of Cape Town with an honours degree in business science and who talks with relish about derivatives — still hopes to make a career in investment banking.
He is not entirely fearless, saying: “Potential employers will probably see me as a troublemaker.”
Anticipating these problems, the president of the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals, Sello Moloko, has urged the financial sector not to throw Bangani’s curriculum vitae away but to give him a chance based on the constructive message in his letter.
“On the upside, a lot of people will benefit from my stance,” says Bangani, referring to Investec’s transformation session, where some employees reportedly supported the claims made in his letter.
“We need to stand together and build this country. Racism needs to be addressed,” he says, echoing Mbeki’s reading of the importance of his letter.
Mbeki referred to the letter in a commentary on the importance of addressing the realities of racism to achieve national reconciliation.
At times, Bangani sounds like he was made for politics, expounding articulately on nation building and the importance of dialogue.
He says that his interest in change came from his dislike of what he saw around him.
“I would go back to the township to visit my grandparents and see young kids in shebeens. I would ask myself what’s going on in this country.”
He says that people such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King have inspired him and so it is surprising when he reveals that he steered clear of political parties at university.
They were all “too white or too black” and ended up as popularity contests. “I’m not in that space, but where I feel like making a difference, I get involved.”
In contrast, he fondly recalls his time at the predominantly white and Afrikaans-speaking Paarl Boys High, where he was elected on to the student representative council. As the school’s first black prefect and first black matriculant to receive distinctions, he believes he probably changed the perceptions of those around him.
He describes his active role in having football made into a school sport. The four-year campaign met strong opposition from rugby supporters, but the introduction of the sport allowed particularly English speakers to contribute to school spirit.
“I don’t step into places where it’s just me trying to satisfy my own ego,” he reflects.
Some online writers have criticised his idealism as misplaced in the corporate world. “Yes, it sucks, you do get biased managers *gasp*, you do get unfair systems and you do get abused in corporate settings,” writes one.
Bangani acknowledges that he has only one year of work experience, but says he cannot understand why people would tolerate unfairness. “Why not challenge companies to be fair and work to bring it to their attention?” — Tumi Makgetla