Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Operation Dudula movement members near the Pan Africa Mall in Alexandra demanding that illegal foreigners leave Alexandre. Picture: THULANI MBELE
Operation Dudula (push away) is the inevitable result of the race policies of the ANC. Our governing party restrains minorities — according to the ANC it’s the turn of the majority to have the good life.
However, this good life comes from inflated tenders and mandated quotas, at huge cost to the economy. The cruel conundrum is that the restrained minorities have a virtual monopoly on the knowledge and experience required to upskill the entire economy, but are pushed away in favour of a relatively unskilled majority.
Seeking redress for apartheid by inflating salary and tender costs above their market value is nothing less than a race tax. Although well intended, it is counterproductive, rendering the “beneficiaries” uncompetitive. This could be sustainable for quite some time if SA was an island. However, we have millions of relatively skilled, non-entitled and desperate people to our north who are not burdened with a race tax.
Where an uncompetitive majority that is so burdened meets an influx of competitive foreign workers, things get ugly. If we want to stem the inflow of foreign labour we must abandon our race tax.
Willem Cronje, Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Ditch the race tax
Operation Dudula (push away) is the inevitable result of the race policies of the ANC. Our governing party restrains minorities — according to the ANC it’s the turn of the majority to have the good life.
However, this good life comes from inflated tenders and mandated quotas, at huge cost to the economy. The cruel conundrum is that the restrained minorities have a virtual monopoly on the knowledge and experience required to upskill the entire economy, but are pushed away in favour of a relatively unskilled majority.
Seeking redress for apartheid by inflating salary and tender costs above their market value is nothing less than a race tax. Although well intended, it is counterproductive, rendering the “beneficiaries” uncompetitive. This could be sustainable for quite some time if SA was an island. However, we have millions of relatively skilled, non-entitled and desperate people to our north who are not burdened with a race tax.
Where an uncompetitive majority that is so burdened meets an influx of competitive foreign workers, things get ugly. If we want to stem the inflow of foreign labour we must abandon our race tax.
Willem Cronje, Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.