Chair, Minister, I wish to start off by quoting from today's Business Day editorial, a view supported by many independent thinkers in this country. The source of this thinking is our Auditor- General:
A picture is emerging of a public administration that is in a state of collapse across great swathes of the country and - even worse - of a political leadership that is so preoccupied with securing its own position and access to state resources that it is either deaf to the warnings or indifferent to the consequences of failing to act. Add to this mix the fact that unemployment has grown from 23,9% to 25,2% in the first quarter and that the Public Protector has warned that we are reaching a tipping point, with corruption now viewed as endemic to both public and private sectors, threatening to distort the economy and derail democracy. Surely, then, a dark picture of our economic and sociopolitical future emerges from this?
Mense skep 'n goeie of slegte ekonomie aan die hand van die waarde en uitsette wat hulle lewer, met ander woorde, kwaliteit en produktiwiteit. Dit op sy beurt kan net gedoen word indien die beste mense sonder aansien van persoon aangestel word en hulle 'n werksetos toepas wat beter is as die ander mededingende ekonomie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[People bring about a good or bad economy through the value and outputs they produce, in other words, quality and productivity. This in itself can only be achieved if the best people are appointed and they apply a work ethic better than that of the other competitive economies.]
In South Africa we are consistently faced with a lagging economy, poor service delivery and corruption, mainly due to internal constraints, of which labour is one contributing factor, Minister.
It is also a well-known fact that many well-trained people, who could oil the machinery of this country's economy, are being kept out of the system purely based on race, some on a de jure basis, like white males, and some on a de facto basis, like the coloured community. Many of them stay unemployed or emigrate if they can. Consider the energy that would be released if they were somehow fed back into the system to assist in growing the economy.
Has the time not arrived to start looking at socioeconomic criteria instead of race only? For if we continue down this path, we will very soon pay the price of the tragedy that has befallen Greece, an economy built on state employment with very little productivity in the public and private sectors. This is also called a Ponzi scheme.
The answer to this is to ensure that merit plays a role in appointments and that socioeconomic circumstances are taken into account, but not race. This will ensure that fit and proper persons are appointed, which will lead to the emergence of a growing economy with jobs. The alternative is stagnation and eventual decline. Many of the fit and proper persons could come from the minorities.
Daarom versoek ons die daarstelling van 'n gelykheidskantoor vir minderhede waardeur nie-aangewese persone aangestel kan word in poste waar kritieke tekorte bestaan. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[We therefore request the establishment of an equity office for minorities whereby non-designated persons can be appointed to posts where critical shortages exist.]
Such an equity office for minorities could ensure that those pushed out by affirmative action, but who could add critical value to the economy, could be reintroduced into the system. This would ensure true equity, which works both ways and would create a win-win solution in the end. Thank you. [Applause.]