Open racism hotline in South Africa

  1. Posted on Thursday 20 March 2008 - 14:49
    Nxumalo
    Image of Nxumalo
    South Africa’s predominantly black managers body, the Black Management Forum (BMF) has called on the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the country’s statutory human rights watchdog to inaugurate a national toll free telephone line to enable people throughout the country report incidences of racism.
    “This will ensure that people are spared from red tape in dealing with the scurge of racism at the workplace,” Jimmy Manyi, the president of the BMF told the closing session of Business and Human Rights Conference in Johannesburg this afternoon.
    Manyi said 13 years into democracy, the disparities between black and white in South Africa in terms of their hold on the economy were still too huge.
    “One cannot believe that 13 years into our democracy and with blacks comprising 90% of our population, more than 80% of the economy is still in white hands. The BMF attributes the lack of progress in wealth distribution and employment equity directly to ingrained and inhumane racism that is still wrecking havoc in the workplace albeit in sophisticated and hidden forms.”
    He said the racist era in South Africa was simply refusing to go away.
    “The University of Free State and Skielik examples constitute fresh reminders that the cancer of racism is alive and well in South Africa,” he said.
    “It is the racist mentality that excluded the majority of this country from meaningful participation in the economy and thus has directly contributed to the poverty we have today within black communities.”
    Manyi and South African had to implement Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and Employment Equity as a silver bullet not only to right the wrongs of the past but also because these were also human rights issues.
    “BBBEE and EE are human rights issues because they are about restoring black people’s dignity by closing the equality gap through economic and social interventions,” he said.
    “Most challenges cannot be addressed without addressing economic challenges and chief among those is the alleviation of poverty.”

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