Shedding light on skilled Afrikaners

There are apparently a substantial number of unemployed yet skilled Afrikaners around South Africa; this in the face of the skills shortage "crisis" that we so often get to read about. I am yet to come accross a media as alarmist as our own anywhere else but to dwell on this issue would be to digress. Getting back to skilled yet unemployed Afrikaners. I got to know about this from the news report and frankly ignored it until I read somewhere that the Freedom Front Plus (FFP) had extended a hand of friendship and assistance to Eskom by handing over to Eskom a large candle and a list of skilled unemployed Afrikaners.

That the list handed over to Eskom is of Afrikaners is actually a guess on my part and probably unfare on them Afrikaners but, this is how I get to the conclusion (albeit by guessing). The leader of FFP Pieter Mulder, handed over the candle and the list himself. Now, I would encourage you to spend some time on the FFP website, it is nothing but fascinating and a living tribute to our democracy. Yes the very democracy we treat with such contempt. The FFP website proclaims that the FFP is the natural home for those who are proud of their Afrikaans heritage and who wish to protect their language, culture and value-system (I paraphrased somewhat). Just for fun and if you can read Afrikaans, contrast the Afrikaans and the English versions of the content of the website. I am not sure whether the contrast is intended or just a function of a poor handle on the English by whoever did the translation. This is of course against the background of the leader of the FFP holding a Phd in communication. Well, the point is that the presentation of the candle and the list was in the name of the Afrikaner and in an effort, I would like to believe of coming to the aid of the nation regarding the power crisis.

A lot has been made lately of the way public utilities went about sacking skilled Afrikaners and replacing them with presumably less skilled Blacks. The very offer of the list by the FFP speaks to the shortage of skills both in headcount and content, doesn't it? However, not much was made of the wholesale resignations from the parastatals such as Eskom by skilled Afrikaners. Even a lot less was made of the reasons why there so many skilled Afrikaners in the parastatals to start with. Let alone all those skilled South Africans who were too scared to experiment with living under a black government and who emigrated. It is accepted the world over that any takeover is ordinarily followed by the key leadership in the taken over entity being politely asked to leave or something to that effect. So, that the leadership of Eskom had to change when the new shareholder took over is a no-brainer. With that change came other changes, intended or otherwise. It is understandable that under those circumstances and during those times, some of the skilled Afrikaners may not have been prepared to answer to the new bosses. Some of the skilled Afrikaners may have been enticed more by the cash value of their packages and others may just have been tired of working. In replacing these skilled Afrikaners, Eskom leadership correctly in my view, applied affirmative action.

Now before you get upset and stop reading please, I do not hold a brief for the leadership of Eskom - that they have done a bad job is obvious for everyone to see and is indefensible. What gets my goat is the suggestion that the poor performance of the Eskom leadership is a function of lack of skilled Afrikaners the re-employment or employment of whom will fix the power problem. The shortage of technical skills affect all sectors of the South African economy yet production continues and the wheels of commerce continues to turn. Eskom is no different. I would argue that Eskom should be in a much better position given the its spend on training engineers, etc. What differentiates Eskom from the others who compete for the technical skills is leadership and not only the current leadership but historically. It is Einstein who is reputed to have said that we cannot solve problems using the same tools we used when we created them.

It is opportunistic, which of course what political parties have to be, to associate the problems we face as a nation with the unemployment of skilled Afrikaners. I encourage all skilled South Africans to apply for employment and apply their skills to the betterment of our country. I encourage the employers to affirm the rights of all South Africans to participate in the employment market and the economy of our country.

So Mr Mulder, the symbolism of your gesture is noted for its contempt.