Thero Setiloane
10 November 2009
opinion
Johannesburg — THE director-general of labour, Jimmy Manyi, seems to think his organisation, the Black Management Forum, has the standing to pronounce on the matter of Eskom's CEO. So does Julius Malema, president of the African National Congress Youth League. If that is the case, I suppose so do I.
Manyi, Malema and their friends have carefully assessed the breakdown in the relationship between the Eskom board and its CEO, Jacob Maroga. And they concluded that Maroga is the victim of racist behaviour on the part of Eskom chairman Bobby Godsell, apparently in collusion with Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan .
I claim no specialist knowledge of the source of the relationship breakdown between Maroga and his board. As an ordinary citizen I have observed the deterioration of Eskom's services to the public, clearly due to a series of poor decisions over the past decade.
And I work for a company whose operations were forced to shut down for several days last year as a consequence of the parastatal's supply crisis. It would seem fair to assume that there have been management, as well as political, failures.
So what is it that prompts the likes of Manyi and Malema to assume, with no evidence other than their instinctive assumptions, that any misfortune to befall any black manager can be explained only as a consequence of white racist behaviour?
Let us be clear that this is not to claim that racism does not exist. It does, also in corporate SA, more frequently than we might like to admit.
However, that does not justify the assumption that every such incident is due to racism. It is distressing and almost inexplicable that there are individuals in positions of responsibility seemingly unable to see their world other than through racial lenses.
It seems like the conscious and disingenuous pursuit of an agenda that manipulatively uses racial chauvinism to advance the personal careers of a select group, as was done by others in the past.
That agenda is well served by the racism that still exists, as well as by the often smug, self-righteous tone of elements of the political opposition, who see short-term value in demonising individuals in the same way Manyi and Malema (and their ilk) are prone to do.
But such behaviour is immensely short-sighted. It is a dangerous game which, if not checked, can damage our economy and our society seriously.
First, to turn to the case at hand, the Eskom board bears responsibility for SA's short- and long-term electricity security. Are those who question the board's decision in a position to make themselves accountable? Of course not. Exercising power through cheap politicking, without having to take responsibility for the consequences, is a far easier game.
Second, these strident voices, far from enhancing the standing of black managers and professionals, do us a disservice. Anyone with basic self-respect would prefer to be judged on the value we bring to our employers and the customers, clients and communities we serve. We do not want honest judgments of our performance to be muted by fear of a racial backlash. We do not want it to be assumed that we owe our positions to fear of the consequences of not retaining us.
Third, while our society remains scarred by decades of racial oppression, we need to build the nonracial society the start of which in 1994 many of us celebrated. The crass racial perspectives peddled in cases such as the Eskom saga do as much damage to the cause of building a nonracial society as did the behaviour of the University of the Free State's "Reitz four".
So thanks, Jimmy and Julius, but no thanks.
Setiloane is an executive at AngloGold Ashanti.
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