Blacks must pass 'washing machine' testThe way affirmative action is conceptualised and implemented by somemajor SA companies is often simply an extension of an old and familiarfeature of our political and economic landscape - the bantustan policy.The British "divided and ruled", the Nats had "separate development" and now the nouveau liberals (yesterday's "old" Nats) are feverishly embracing affirmative action philosophies, drawing up affirmative action policies and appointing black affirmative action managers. But at the end of the day, most of it is "baasskap" in new clothes.
No, we are not arguing that all affirmative action initiatives are insincere covers for an old agenda. Yes, we are saying that many (or even most) should be exposed for being just that.
What was the bantustan concept? At the end of the day it was a clear attempt to maintain the status quo of white ownership over the vast majority of the country's resources by hiving off selected black areas, which were theoretically independent or self-governing.
Great care was taken not to include any really valuable assets, so the bantustan map was a hodgepodge. The fiction of autonomy and self-respectability was pursued by appointing bantustan leaders and officials with high packages and perks to "run their own show".
Nobody (including the bantustan leaders, their Pretoria bosses, or the public) believed the fiction, but it served two cardinal purposes.
Firstly, the SA establishment could claim to have given "them" a chance to govern themselves - fostering the ridiculous yet persistent claim that apartheid was really a liberal philosophy.
The second purpose was far more insidious. As the bantustans showed themselves to be economically unviable and politically unstable, white SA could "tut, tut" and say, "Look, we gave them a chance to look after their own affairs; they've messed it up; well, maybe they just aren't capable...." Coups, military dictators, embezzlement of funds, and all the homeland maladies simply reinforced apartheid.
What has all this to do with the progressive policy of affirmative action? It has to do with how it is implemented.
Companies hive off selected areas of their operations which can "safely" be put in black hands, taking care not to include any critically important core business areas. Typical of these "bantustan" areas in business include the classic favorites human resources, strategic planning, public relations, new market development and, of course, endless affirmative action managers.
Just like the bantustan policy produced a line of willing ministers and officials, a ready and willing black professional caste has lined up to accept the posts and lucrative packages which affirmative action delivers. Some black affirmative action managers are the beginning and the end of affirmative action in their companies.
They become the black "eyes and ears" of the company, the window-dressing enabling the organisation to show them off at appropriate high-profile occasions. And when they fail to deliver real value to the company's bottom line (which was predictable because it is difficult to add value in a soft job or in the display window), then the heads nod regretfully, saying: "Look, we gave them a chance, maybe they just aren't...."
White managers are often cynical of affirmative action as practised in their own or in other companies - and they have every right to be so in cases where black professionals are simply slotted into meaningless disempowered roles.
So how can we decide whether an affirmative action appointment is a real one, or ultimately a bantustan one? We suggest applying the "washing machine test".
Ever so many SA homes will be familiar with the appliances, which the black domestic worker is not allowed to use (washing machine, microwave and so on). "They" can do washing, cleaning, or other domestic tasks by hand so the expensive equipment is safe.
Similarly, many black professionals (affirmative action appointees) are given jobs that they can do without jeopardising the expensive machinery of the company's core business. If a black person is allocated "public relations" or "strategic planning", well, the risk is really minimal as compared with giving a black CA the job of financial director, or a black engineer the job of engineering manager.
Or where firms recruit accountants, engineers and other hard-skills black professionals, they can be placed in deliciously paternalistic programmes such as black advancement, mentorship, guardianship, fast-track training, and so on. So many black professionals tell us tales of companies which just love to train blacks, endlessly. And then they wonder why those "ungrateful blacks job-hop so much".
While some of these training programmes are good and necessary as part of the human resources development strategy, to be effective they should relate to the core business and add value to the bottom line.
A new, more sophisticated version of this bantustan concept is to cut off say 10% of the company and give it to chosen black "entrepreneurs" to run as a black business with an MD and officials.
The insurance and financial services sector will be familiar with this strategy. It is very attractive - black shareholders, a black board, lots of publicity. But the core business, the 90% bulk of the company, stays pure white. Is this not a familiar scenario? Did the bantustan policy not attempt to do the same thing with the country as a whole?
There are two key questions. Firstly, for how long will black South Africans be willing to accept odd bits and pieces of corporate SA and nominal window-dressing roles? The demand (in the form of legislation) will surely arise for business to stop trying to hire blacks into separate slots, and instead empower black professionals in the mainstream of the economy as executive directors, senior managers and credible non-executive directors.
Secondly, is there not value to be added to corporate profitability by really including blacks in the mainstream of the economic life? It makes business sense. The vast majority of SA consumers are black, the government is predominantly black. It will benefit companies to become blacker at senior and significant levels - to put the washing machine firmly in black hands.
It is also essential that blacks who are perceived to be the beneficiaries of affirmative action must seize the initiative and drive the process, by not only becoming passive recipients but as activists who can control their own industry in the business world. To those who say: "It 's all very well, but where are all these black professionals going to come from?", we say: "Open your eyes, change your minds, relinquish the bantustan philosophy," and this country's potential will spring sharply into focus.