Ms Kavisha Ramlall(not her real name) is a 25-year-old lass from Sea Tides in Tongaat on the North Coast. After completing her matriculation at the Sea Tides Secondary School with excellent marks in 2002, she pursued a degree in environmental management at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Thereafter, she proceeded to Pretoria University where she completed her Honours and is now in the process of submitting her final papers for a Masters.
Since obtaining her Honours degree two years ago she has responded to vacancies in her field advertised by several local, provincial and national government departments and the private sector. Her applications number more than 50. But to date, she has not been successful in obtaining a single position and has also not received a single letter of acknowledgement to her applications. The sad part of her story is that the country needs people to work in the environmental field. She has not been given an opportunity to play her role in contributing to the environmental development of the country.
Like Kavisha Ramlall, there are scores or hundreds of other highly-skilled graduates who have been unsuccessful in obtaining jobs in their fields of speciality in KwaZulu-Natal.
Ramlall and many other young people in the same situation have not followed in the footsteps of thousands of other young people who have migrated to the Johannesburg-Pretoria region in search of jobs and opportunities.
Most of the young people who made the move to the Johannesburg-Pretoria region since the early 1990s have done exceptionally well for themselves. They are occupying top jobs in all fields in the private sector and government utilities like Escom. Many others have become very successful business people.
They were forced to move to Johannesburg-Pretoria region not only in search of greater opportunities, but also because opportunities were drying up in their home province of KwaZulu-Natal.
They seem to have had a golden era for the past 20 years or so through sheer hard work, determination and sacrifice. They have achieved this position despite the fact that most of these young people lack the support of the extended family system that one enjoys in Durban and other areas of KZN.
But they too are now feeling the impact of the "job quota system" and they have been told in no uncertain terms that the Employment Equity Act will have to be implemented effectively.
"There's too many Charoes", and "This company looks Durban" are some of the latest comments they have to contend with.
Getting back to Kavisha Ramlall and others in her situation, one would have to ask the obvious question, what will be their future now that the Government is determined to amend the Employment Equity Act in order to get rid of regional demographic considerations in favour of national demographic benchmarks?
This means that whereas currently the "job quota" for people like Kavisha Ramlall is around 10 percent in KwaZulu-Natal and more than 50 percent for the coloured people in the Western Cape, the introduction of the Employment Equity Amendment Bill would mean that the Kavisha Ramlalls would have to contend with the new national quota of three percent for Indian-origin people and around 10,9 percent for coloured people.
The move by the Government has been highlighted by the row over a statement by Government chief spokesperson, Jimmy Manyi. When he was the director general of the Department of Labour, it's reported that he had said there were too many "coloureds" in the Western Cape and that they should move elsewhere.
Our struggle stalwart, Trevor Manuel, who is a Minister in the Presidency, lashed out at Manyi, accusing him of him being a "racist" in the mould of H F Verwoerd, the first white Prime Minister who legalised apartheid.
It's not known whether Manuel entered the fray as part of a desperate ANC strategy to do "damage control" and to try to regain the lost "coloured" support in the Western Cape or because of his previously known values, principles and commitment to non-racialism and democracy. It will only be a matter of time before we come to know the truth.
Manyi did not only put his "foot in his mouth" over the "coloured" issue, but he also made a desperaging remark against the Indian-origin community when he remarked at a Durban Chamber of Commerce meeting in Durban about a year ago that "Indian people had bargained their way to the top echelons of management in the private sector".
It's because of the "racist" mentality of the types of Manyi and now with the proposed new Employment Equity Act Amendment Bill, the likes of Kavisha Ramlall and others will continue to find it difficult to find jobs and make a contribution to the economic and social development of our new non-racial democracy.
It's a well-established fact that just as the "coloured" community are in the majority in the Western Cape, people of Indian-origin are predominant in Durban and other parts of KwaZulu-Natal. If the quota system is changed from regional to national, then it will be back to the bad old days of racial discrimination and marginalisation.
When comrade Trevor Manuel came out very strongly against Jimmy Manyi to ensure that our non-racial and democratic constitution is not trampled in any way, one would have thought that our comrades from KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg who had fought with Manuel during the days of United Democratic Front(UDF) and after the ANC was unbanned, would have come forward to also express their disgust and disquiet.
Their deadly silence is earth shattering and worrying. It says a lot about their commitment to the values and principles of the struggle era. Now that they are well-located economically, socially and politically in their new cushy positions, have they forgotten their values and principles for which they fought the struggle?
As part of the constituency that played a significant role in the struggle for a non-racial democracy, I believe it's imperative and of importance that the Government take due and appropriate action to provide greater opportunities for the vast majority of people who have been marginalised and discriminated during the apartheid era. All South Africans must support this process fully and totally.
But at the same time, I do not believe that laws should be introduced in such a way that it's seen as "racist" by people within the Indian-origin and coloured communities.
We fought the racism of the "H F Verwoerds" against all odds and won. Let us now in our new democracy not allow the emergence of the "H F Verwoerds" of different hues. The Jimmy Manyis, the Paul Ngobes, and the Julius Malemas must be called to account for their reckless "racist" statements. - Marimuthu Subramoney (aka Subry Govender), PoliticalJournalist and Editor.
ntl/ honours / masters
safety health environment
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