Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

DEFENCE Minister Mosiuoa Lekota delighted the Democratic Alliance in Parliament on June 1 when he expressed reservations about racial categorisation and representivity.

In comments on his budget vote in Parliament, he said the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) had had problems in attracting white South Africans. He acknowledged many of them chose to go overseas when they matriculated.

He went on to ask whether at some point we should not move beyond racial targets and being defined racially as African, Indian, coloured or white as opposed to simply being South Africans.

It seems the minister is frustrated by the problems in the SANDF. By his own admission, part of the difficulty in attracting whites is they tend to go overseas after matriculation, no doubt seeking economic opportunities.

In the absence of compulsory conscription, clearly it is a person's prerogative to opt whether or not to join the defence force.

Another explanation may be that given persistent pessimism and an aversion to steps taken to correct imbalances of the past, young white people simply do not feel inclined to join an institution such as the defence force.

Since a very real possibility exists that at some time in the future they may be called upon to endanger their lives for their country, it does not make sense to do so for a country one does not feel attached to.

Employment equity can hardly be blamed for the consciousness or lack thereof by such a group of people.

The more pertinent problem that the minister's comments pose is the following: how does one even begin to motivate the validity and necessity of transforming this society at every level to a person in the minister's position as national African National Congress chairman and a member of the cabinet?

It is expected parties such as the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front would question the need for transforming our society. It is accepted and known that they defend minority interests and would prefer that the status quo remain, no matter how they package their objections.

It might be worthwhile for the minister to remember that no country can survive by relying on the skills of 5% of the population.

One would not even need to read the many surveys to establish the economy is firmly in the hands of the same people controlling it in the apartheid years.

In state-owned enterprises while top management is being transformed, the middle management level, where decisions are carried out, remains predominantly white.

At educational institutions, while councils are being trans- formed in the formerly white universities, the staff remains predominantly white especially in crucial areas such as medicine and applied sciences.

A glance at sporting teams such as cricket and rugby would show just how fallacious the notion is that we should pause in our efforts to bring about economic and social equality in SA.

There will come a time when it will be unnecessary to implement restorative steps. It is not possible to gauge this in time. The results of the measures taken will speak for themselves and will make further steps unnecessary.

Such a stage will be reached when the economy in this country is controlled by the majority of the people, as in any other nation.

Private-sector companies will therefore not need to implement affirmative action as the demographics will already be representative both at ownership and management level. All institutions in our society will have African and other black people as the majority.

Ministers should be circumspect and sensitive to the feelings and perceptions of black people when they make statements in public about issues that are a long way off from being resolved.

Besides anything else, there are too many wounds which are still too close to the surface.

Qunta is a partner in the law firm Qunta Incorporated.