What is the real enemy of affirmative action?

[Dave A]

That is a truly fascinating document. And a pretty solid foundation for a serious discussion around affirmative action. Particularly as it starkly reveals the ANC's paradigm.

My underlying belief is that the current paradigm is fundamentally flawed - and I'll go into that in some detail perhaps over the weekend when I've got more time to lay it out. But for the meantime I'll draw attention to some "proof" that there is a fundamental problem here. And this part introduces the point quite nicely:

Two options were being urged upon us. The one was to adopt a Constitution and Bill of Rights that would scrap apartheid laws, but establish the constitution as a Chinese wall against any attempt to alter the social and economic status quo.

The other and opposite option was simply to require the new government to confiscate the spoils of apartheid and share them out amongst those who had been dispossessed. While this approach had the immediate attraction of correcting historic injustice, it could not be realistically advanced in the context of an anticipated negotiated transition to democracy. Furthermore, its adoption would have led to capital flight, the destruction of the economy and international isolation just at the time when the people would most be wishing to enjoy the benefits of their ages-old struggle.

Let's focus on two parts here (because we certainly are not experiencing international isolation) - capital flight and destruction of the economy.

Let's not kid ourselves. We have had not only a capital (money) flight but a skills flight - a loss of human capital. And policy is the majority conributor to that.

The second is the destruction of the economy. Yes, the economy has expanded - on the back of a global bull run and massive credit expansion. But is it because of our ability to add value - or because we have squandered our capital?

A person buys a house. It doubles in value over 4 years. The person converts that increase in value into a car. Now they have a house and a car. But is that as a result of constructive value-add efforts, or the windfall of favourable (and fickle) sentiment?

The ship has caught a favourable wind, but has made less progress than other ships. When the global economic winds reverse - how will we fair then? Is our economic ship built of solid materials with a solid engine, or a makeshift raft that must burn itself for fuel?

The real strength of an economy should be measured by its ability to turn dust into dollars - and somehow I don't think we've got better at that.