“Since I am ‘white’, I take note when you talk so boldly about ‘whites’ being the stumbling block in terms of your transformation agenda.  I write this letter to you in order to get clarity.  According to your Party’s National Democratic Revolution (NDR), the eventual target of your ‘transformation’ policies is that every facet of the South African society (people in employment, ownership of business, participation in sports teams, shares on the JSE, education, the list goes on and on), must reflect the demographical composition of the South African society – approximately 80 percent Black, 10 percent White, 8 percent Coloured and 2 percent Indian.  Hard work and skills are no longer the criteria; just the colour of the skin.  Quality is sacrificed in an obsessive pursuit of quotas on the basis of skin colour.  Total madness!  However, you Minister, and your colleagues are pursuing these ideals, bit by bit, in every area and in every piece of legislation.

Minister, since the NDR envisages a ‘seamless transition’, you have to pursue this destructive path, and the current status and intensity of all transformational legislation is therefore merely an interim arrangement in your attempt to achieve your ideological version of a transformed society.  The term ‘seamless transition’ implies that you will never achieve it (even Hitler could not achieve it), but you will not stop trying, turning on the screws as you are failing, while systematically breaking down the economy”.

Gerhard Papenfus

Taken from letter from Gerhard Papenfus, chief executive of the National Employers’ Association of South Africa, to Minister of Labour dated 4 May 2016 – Papenfus: To Labour Minister Oliphant, what must we do about these Whites?: thanks to BizNews for published it.

Further excerpts

Since the ‘whites’ in our employ has such a ‘tight grip’ on their jobs (according to you), please advise, Minister, how we can get rid of them (should any employer wish to do so).  Their rights are entrenched in the constitution of the Republic and the Labour Relations Act.  Since you are the custodian of this Act, Minister, you must be aware of the fact that huge penalties await employers if they dismiss employees without good reason, and the penalty is even more severe if dismissal is done for reasons based on the colour of an employee’s skin.  So, even if we want to get rid of these ‘whites’ (incidentally, we don’t want to, because they – as in the case of all other employees – are essential for the sustainability of our business), it is not possible within the current legal framework.

These pieces of legislation, which protects minorities against unfair dismissal, must be a source of huge frustration to you Minister, especially against the background of your desire to rid the workplace of these ‘whites’ who so ‘stubbornly’ cling to their jobs.

. . . . .

Minister, it is obvious that you have sacrificed economic growth for the sake of your version of transformation.  But how do you want to effect meaningful transformation without economic growth? Removing the ‘whites’ out of the workplace, whilst there are millions out there demanding a better life, will not solve your problem; it will in fact make it worse.  It will never bring about meaningful national upliftment – but perhaps that is not what you have in mind.

. . . . .

Minister, these policies are destined to bring poverty and hardship over the very people it envisages to benefit.  Just as in the case of apartheid, this is legalised injustice, which deprives a whole nation of the ability to prosper.

Minister, the eventual outcome of all your ideas, might be the opposite of what you envisage.  People prejudiced by these policies often become stronger, not weaker; and the immediate (but very temporary) beneficiaries of these ridiculous policies experience the disappointment of these failed policies later.