Poverty is colour blind, and black and white people need to work together to eradicate it, African National Congress (ANC) treasurer general Mathews Phosa said on Friday.
”The ANC thinks that poverty is colourless, there is no such thing as white poverty. There is poverty,” he told journalists following his address to the Afrikaner Poverty Conference in Centurion.
He said the ruling party will draw on the expertise of other party members to find a solution to solve the problem. Improving skills transfer is one such way of doing this.
”We want blacks and whites in partnership in a balanced manner; let blacks teach whites and vice versa. It is not a racial thing, we must kill that racial thing.”
Freedom Front Plus (FF+) leader Pieter Mulder agreed that poverty is colourless, but that there are different reasons for the advent of white poverty. He said affirmative action has played a role. Mulder said surely the aim of affirmative action is not to create another group of poor people.
”If you look at race alone, it is going to cause more discrimination.”
He said it is not fair that a wealthy and advantaged black child is granted a bursary to a tertiary institution because he or she meets the racial requirements, while a poor white child cannot.
”It’s just not common sense.”
Mulder said Phosa is a man who, like the new leadership of the ANC, can bring common sense to the debate.
”[Phosa] is one of the ANC leaders with the best understanding of the cultural issues of Afrikaners.”
He said the party is upbeat about Phosa’s positive attitude, but said that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
”There needs to be less ideology and more pragmatism, I get some of that from the new leadership … Let’s hope that this attitude stays and remains.”
Phosa earlier told the conference — which was hosted by the FF+ and included members of Parliament as well as welfare and church groups — that political reconciliation is one of the party’s priority initiatives.
He said the FF+ has also followed the practice of non-confrontation and the ANC appreciates its input, advice and expertise.
”It is an unusual act of reconciliation of one party to invite a representative of another party to participate in discussions on how to combat the problem of poverty alleviation.”
He said in the political mix of good service delivery, economic growth and a safe country and region, Afrikaners have an ”extremely important” role to play.
Phosa also said that the government needs to face the inconvenient truth regarding the ”dismal failure” of the land-claims process, in particular in Limpopo.
”Seventy percent of land handed over to black hands initially ended up in dismal failure.”
He said this has left more people jobless than it has created employment, and has also negatively affected food security.
”The partnership between black and white farmers … can pull the wagon through the drift,” he said, using the Afrikaans saying.
Phosa reiterated earlier remarks that white expertise needs to be returned to government administration.
”The exodus of white expertise from the public sector happened too fast and there are key areas in which we need the knowledge, experience and skills of white specialists.”
Phosa said he once again extends his hand to the FF+ leader, his ”co-Afrikaner”, so that together the parties can make the country better to live in.
”I, as an Afrikaner, would like to close with a well-known slogan in our beautiful language … and one which I would very much like to hear from more South Africans, and especially leaders: ‘Ek wil, ek sal, ek kan [I will, I shall, I can].”
Phosa then handed over a published book of his own poems, written in Afrikaans, to Mulder.
The book is entitled Deur die Oog van ‘n Naald, translated as Through the Eye of a Needle. — Sapa