This blog post is about the difference between two kinds of human achievement. It is about the difference between the pursuit of excellence and the drive to conformity. It is about the difference between Woodstock 1969 and SA Idols 2010.
I am not a fan of singing talent competitions of any kind. With the possible exception of Susan Boyle, no such competition has ever produced a real star with the kind of charisma and staying power that are the hallmarks of the truly great. Did Bob Dylan ever win a talent show? Did Jimmy Hendrix make it all the way to Woodstock by crooning Pat Boone covers in a TV studio? No, sir. The truly great singer-songwriters have always battled their own lonesome way to the top, where many of them are, to this day, burning their comet-like paths across the star-studded skies of rock ’n roll, usually with a trail of trashed hotel rooms in their wake.
Great was my surprise then, when I accidentally switched on my TV this week on the South African Idols programme, and happened to notice at least two young black men with the word “superstar” written all over them. If a crappy show like South African Idols can produce such magnificence — or, to put it another way — if these truly gifted singers can escape being psychologically maimed for life by the inane comments of the competition judges — I’m prepared to apologise for every negative thing I’ve ever written about singing contests.
In fact, these new performers are setting a new standard for all South Africans to follow. I’m not just talking about music! I’m talking about energy, capability, the desire to be simply the best.
To be … the best. To BEE … the Best …
There’s a lesson here somewhere, I’m sure. Is the universe trying to tell us something?
Indeed! The universe is speaking loudly and clearly!
This is the message I got from the universe today. It is in the form of a rhetorical question:
How can any person of merit and self-respect ever accept career benefits on the grounds of a concept such as affirmative action?
Those guys made it so far in the Idols competition because they are good, and not because they are black, that should be pretty obvious even to Gareth Cliff. Surely the very idea of affirmative action is an insult to all black people! If I were black, I would feel extremely patronised if someone offered me a job, or allowed me to win a competition, purely on the basis of my skin colour.
Give me a job because I’m good at it, for heaven’s sake, give me a job because for the first time in South African history I’m able to compete against previously advantaged whites on an equal basis, give me a job because you’ve noticed me doing stuff right. But don’t, don’t ever tell me: we need a black face in this space, so you can be our black face.
We all understand the theory behind BEE and we all know that there are millions of good people who had been unfairly sidelined under the old regime. The reason they were sidelined, however, was precisely because the previous regime followed a philosophy of skin colour over capability. In order to cancel out the mistakes of the past, we should replace that way of thinking with an entirely new way of thinking. We should actively pursue advancement through merit, because that is the exact antithesis of the previous system. To swop previously disadvantaged blacks with present-day disadvantaged whites is no real innovation. It is merely rearranging the chairs in the boardroom. In essence, all the superficial results achieved by any quota system will always tend to be as stifling to real economic growth as match-fixing is to cricket. This kind of thing isn’t really about transforming the economy, it’s just paint-by-numbers.
Whatever happened to the pursuit of excellence? Since when has it become politically correct to strive for mediocrity, conformity, collective stupidity and mass boredom?
South Africans are fiercely passionate, fiercely individualistic people. I can off-hand name many individuals that have successfully pursued excellence. Last week’s Mail & Guardian had a twelve-page supplement naming some our country’s internationally renowned top achievers; I counted at least twenty-four names (and there must be many more, since I wasn’t even in there)! Our entire history is dotted with writers, artists, sportsmen, performers, cultural leaders and innovators of note. We performed the first heart transplant. We gave birth to international symbols of peace such as Gandhi, Smuts and Mandela. We knew Mark Shuttleworth before he went to space. We have written the most progressive constitution known to man. And as if that wasn’t enough, we even invented zef.
Yes! South Africans of all walks of life have done all sorts of wonderful and exciting things, and, without exception, every wonderful or exciting thing ever done was done because, somewhere, someone broke through the mold of conformity and dared to be different.
Why, in this day and age, when original thinking and creative solutions are so badly needed, is the government encouraging its employees to “toe the party line”, to “obey the collective”, to stick to the so-called “ANC values” (whatever those values may be)?
There are only two kinds of situations in life where the collective is more important than the individual. The one is in team sport. The other is in war. Yet, even in team sport, individual streaks of brilliance can sometimes help to achieve victory. And, as for war, well, this isn’t Afghanistan, is it? If we are at war, who is the enemy? Last time I looked, PW Botha was still dead.
No, of course we are not at war. We only look that way because we own all those nifty submarines and shit we don’t know how to operate. As for the bullet-holes you see in the Union buildings, they have been put there, not by hostile nations, but by members of the tripartite alliance. It’s been friendly fire all the way. Who needs enemies if you are perfectly capable of self-destructing without any outside help whatsoever?
I know of men and women who have made tremendous personal sacrifices for the so-called collective during the war against apartheid. Ultimately, however, all war is degrading and dehumanising — even just wars such as the war against apartheid — and to carry on with a war-like stance even after victory has been achieved is madness.
In the mind-set of many ANC ex-warriors, the war is still continuing. The difference is that now they are no longer at war against the nationalist regime, they are at war with themselves. It is a war that is threatening to drag the entire country down to their level of simplistic reasoning. Is this fair? Why should we be forced to become part of their comrade-eat-comrade mentality?
The metaphors and ideals that sustained these men while they were waging their legitimate battle against apartheid no longer work. Apartheid is dead. If houses do not get built, if money is siphoned off into the wrong pockets, apartheid can no longer be blamed. Surely not even the (admittedly) corrupt and (often) sensationalistic media and its (sometimes white) journalists can ultimately be blamed for that kind of crap.
This is no longer the age of revolution; it is the age of hard work, the age of rebuilding, the age of transparency, the age of entrepreneurship and fair play.
This is indeed the time to rediscover the forgotten art of pursuing excellence.
@ Dave Harris on September 8th, 2010 at 9:05 am
Well said
I need the white readers to please explain to me why, they were not protesting against issues like this in the apartheid Era. I understand that we need to move forward (yawn) why where they not challenging the apartheid government against (job reservation policies) i would have loved to see same passion being displayed here, in the “good” olden days. It seems to me this is one of those concealed racist article with no basis.
PS. Koos I am a proudly black female who is very good at what I do and, I work in a team of Indian , white and black males and after much observation I sometimes wonder how some of my white colleagues got and have managed to keep their jobs because they are totally clueless at what they do.
Unfortunately stupidity and ignorance does not discriminate and maybe we should start really looking at how many white people are really good at their jobs and how many actually pursue excellence, because I know for a fact that not every white person who has a job deserves it and worked hard to get it and yes some of them got their jobs because of their skin colour.
I have read again the opinions expressed by our black breathren. Most blame apartheid, 300 years of lack of education and so on. The question is, how old are you comentators? I bet none older than 100 years.
What are trying to say that being black and a looser is genetic? That you will always need BEE and affirmative action to “succeed”. That you will always need the whites to show you how?
If you are good as you say prove it. You have the opportunity so get out there and show us how good you are instead of trying to hang on the coat tails of whites.
Employ as many of your breathren as you can to show that you do not need the white man to do it for you.
You talk Bee and such but have you taken the time to see how few blacks these True black empowerment companies have employed? Rand for Rand contract for contract the whites are still the largest employer. Do your homework before whinging about the whiteman.
Maybe you should rather ask the BBEE companies why they employ so few blacks? Your reasoning may then seem childlike.
If we wish South Africa to be an economic success then we absolutely have to give jobs based on merit and not on any other criteria.
With that in mind I think that it is fair to say that perhaps the way merit is evaluated requires overhaul, and that it should be required for companies to justify their hiring decisions if requested.
Overhauling the evaluation of merit would involve a proper measure of the applicant’s potential and motivation to learn and improve, not only current skills. This might mean taking on someone who does not yet have the skills you require but who is deemed to be capable of acquiring those skills and doing a good job of applying them, within a reasonable time.
I work in IT, where I feel that motivation to learn is generally regarded as a more desirable quality than already having a skill but no desire to improve it or learn new skills. More than once I have got a job where I did not already know the technologies I would work with but was able to show that I wanted to learn them and would do what it took to achieve this.
The problem with AA and BEE, as I understand them, is that they simply ignore any evaluation of skills or potential in favour of racial profiling. While some people who deserve their jobs will get them this way, many people who do not will also.
Please dont stop AA or BEE!
I am a skilled white male (the ANC’s worst nightmare); I held a senior position in one of the large corporates when it was made clear to me that for reason of race, I would not be progressing any further.
I left and started my own business, using my skills and I now make substantially more money and have more satisfaction than ever before.
I have three kids who I have sent to private schools and they realise that they have to be considerably better than their peers. To make a provincial sports team, they can’t be one of the best XI, they have to be one of the best five. This has forced them to up their games significantly.
History has shown, no better than with the Jewish community, that discrimiation can be best motivation.
May the black population keep our dead end government and corporate jobs, and the whites will make more money than ever before!
I was a baby back in the ’80s.You all agree now that His Excellency R.Mugabe the President accross the Limpopo river’s administration improved the education of that country within the space of less that 20 years right? Why they were not absorbed by the private sector then? Now who was in charge of the economy then? We know that polically natives we in charge. What was the role of the said people incharge of economy & private sector did to meet the countries admin halfway? & who were those people, where are they now? Remember that Mugabe embarked on the land re-distribution police long after 20yrs. What drove him to do it? Black poeple are not asking for handout from anybody.Some around here protest too much over nothing.What I mean to say is that the RSA’s gov took the situation in Zim & other countries when formulating the policies of AA & BEE.
Sigh . . . will you guys just get over yourselves, and move on! The black versus white debate is soooo done. Who gives a shit about what colour you are?
Yawn.
I don’t know, Koos. You’re obviously quite passionate about this but I think you’re wrong on at least a few points.
Artists have always needed to be talented as well as connected and lucky.
In the days of old only the connected got good training, followed by appointments to do work. Such as composing symphonies, painting ceilings and the like. They mainly needed to be lucky, connected and sponsored.
This is still true. There are many talented buskers around the world. Who aren’t connected. And there are many average musicians on the airwaves. Who are connected.
Call that affirmative action if you like. But the affirmed rarely seem as hurt about it as the unaffirmed.
And the collective isn’t only more important in war and sport. Sport is a metaphor for much of life. The collective can build roads, schools and hospitals. It’s only through cooperation that these things are achieved.
BEE can work as an incentive with rewards attached. BEE as law can not and will not ever work. You can not force people to be good you can not force people to do the right thing. But you can motivate people to go in the direction you want them to go. By creating laws for BEE much harm has been done to the country and will continue to damage the country. It would have been so much less expensive, if we simply had given fantastic rewards to companies that paved the way into the future. Imagine no illegal tenders, no 100% non white companies, no over priced 100% non white companies, etc, etc, etc. We could have saved billions and been better people for it.
Oi, this “debate” is actually mind-numbing. If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t we living in the happiest country in the word? I seriously cannot believe how dumb and narrow minded people on these forums can be. We are so willing to throw away the future of our country for the flawed ideologies of today.
@ Francesca: well said!
@ Titi “I need the white readers to please explain to me why, they were not protesting against issues like this in the apartheid Era”
You obviously know nothing about Koos Kombuis… Or the entire voëlvry movement he was part of.
@ Dabane: get educated about Smuts – if he had won the infamous election, apartheid, and all the poo we sit with today, would never have happened. Or are you too brainwashed and blinded by the “fact” that he was an Evil Afrikaner for you to even consider looking at him objectively?
@Belle: ““Level playing fields” … the greatest myth in modern society.” Indeed. We are not equal, and the sooner we realise this, the sooner we can make things work. We aren’t all Stephen Hawking or Usain Bolt. We are different, some of us are better than others. Stop perpetuating an equality myth and start perpetuating the reality that honesty, entrepreneurship and hard work is a MUCH faster way to get out of poverty than the hackneyed old ideologies that even Castro now says does not work.
@Francesca – HEHE – absolutely. Like the two dogs who fought so much over an old bone that they never saw the cat dragging away the rest of the meat… Has no-one else figured out that making a fresh kill might take less energy and taste much sweeter?
As a white student at Rhodes University it really worries to see how older generations still seem to be trapped in their “apartheid tunnel vision.” I live in a student residence with 31 other guys, black and white, we all get along, we are students working toward our future.
I strongly believe that my generation is slowly being emancipated from this post-apartheid way of thinking that our parents still subscribe to, race is not an issue to us. What I’m trying to say is people and cultures differ, the understanding that I have of things may differ from my black friends, but that does not mean that we cannot respect and embrace our differences.
As for the BEE. Cosatu has critiqued the current system of BEE (http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-08-18-cosatu-slams-elitist-bee-deals-in-steel-industry) heavily for, as Koos suggests, simply changing seats and creating a new “black elite bourgiousie” that is just as removed from their struggle comrades as whites were during the “struggle”.
So in conclusion, thanks Koos for giving us all something to think about and keep it up. In a diverse society such as South Africa we need people like you to keep us on our toes.
Dave dave dave… youa re at it again. Until there is one, just one, service delviery protest by blakvc poor parents about the failure of the government to educate their kids, black folk are going nowhere. We have had protests about toilets, housres, jobs, corruption, party poistioning etc. but not one about education. Dave the free ride is over. even if ALL the wealth in south africa has magically transfered to black people, they woudl still be relatively piss poor, becuase they have no skills thanks to their government. You have ot actually be able to read to understand a bank statement. So next time you write a retro reply, think twice, your energy could be better spent getting one, just one, little protest going about education. Black people will always be slaves until they get really pissed off about education, no other policy has ever worked to uplift a people, ever.
@Gerry – About the playing fields, eh… no-one advocated levelling the players on the field, just the fields. We are obviously not equal, or, some are more equal than others but it is absurd to expect a person with 3d rate indifferent education to compete with the the old boys club tie on equal ground, especially when nepotism and the various bruderbonds has ruled out entry into the competition if you are not “of noble birth” (sorry, that was facetious but should get the point across. When access to the the internet, all knowledge and world-standard education is free, we will have level playing fields. Why is there so little or no robotics in South Africa and that all imported at premium? Ever tried to find a book on the subject in this country?
O vrek…
Too much of stereotyping;
too much of my oom is bigger than yours;
too much of I’m in trouble becasue of what you ou’s did.
Too little of I am gonna make this work;
too little of what contribution can I make;
too little of I like what your oom does.
Shees ouens, get over yourselves already! Kom speel saam – we can even use my ball!
I sometimes wonder what if I was the person who benefitted from a system that sytemically took away from indegenous peoples of that country or continent. When land was expropriated from blacks a policy of farming in the half was introduced when mostly Afrikaans farmers were sharing farming land with indegenous Africans. Even when this sytem proved to be producing an African middle class it was done away with. The purpose was to take away what Africans had and make sure they never rise to a compettive level. I now come back to the spiritual: what is going on in the mind body and spirit who gloats over having gained from oppressing others? When young African men go and steal from the houses of their white compatriots they are seen by other Africans as being demon posessed and are shunned by other Africans. Why is it welcome to illtreat people who do not look like them for some in the white community? Why is it seen as an act of “righteousness” this thing makes me wonder really. Do we have the same spiritual being that respects humanity or to some of them you are only human when you look like them.
At a spiritual level I deall with these issues on a daily basis I must say
I don’t think that any clear-thinking South African can deny the need for an open door of opportunity where previously there was none. It is undeniable that a change of focus, inclusive of all races in relation to job-filling decisions was and is necessary. However, I think Koos puts it most clearly when he says that BEE & Apartheid are based on the same distinctions.
Really, the only important thing is that doors are opened. In a business context, open doors are good. A new business “opens its doors” and failed businesses “close their doors”. A shop that decides to “open its doors” to only certain people will not sell as much as a shop that sells to all people. However, the shop with the “open-door policy” would not dream of leaving its doors open after closing so that just anyone can come in and help themselves without paying. Their open door policy of selling to all comes with the “qualification” that all who buy pay.
Open doors are necessary, but just as shops have an open door policy that includes qualification, employers must also insist insist on qualification, including experience, from employees of any race, colour or creed. Indiscriminately open doors in any area of business are inescapably based in, and lead to bad service-delivery, criminality and eventually failure.
Mr Kombuis, you should have rather supplied an alternative instead, don’t you think? Do not assume that some of the government decision makers don’t read Thought Leader. In fact most of them do, and here you come with your article full of complaints with out solutions. What a waste of a platform.
Wow, well, just when we thought people were becoming more open-minded… you get this article with nothing new to add to the debate.
The amount of reference to American affirmative action is interesting, but it’s disappointing how far off-base it actually is.
@Percy You draw a correlation between AA and mediocrity that’s interesting. But I don’t think you should include the US in that argument since AA began in the US in 1964, a significant beginning of the US being anything but mediocre on the world stage.
@Quo Vadis Of course Barack Obama is partially a product of AA. But before you disagree, think about what AA actually is. We tend to think of AA as giving a job/university place, etc. to someone because of his/her skin colour. AA is proactively considering an individual’s circumstances as part of his/her “merit.” Obama wouldn’t disagree with that and has vigorously defended AA both as a professor and as a lawmaker.
@Graham Johnson That study from Rhodes has some pretty serious problems, selection bias not being the least of them. I’d be curious to hear what mark that student received. But I think it’s safe to say that Rhodes is not considered a premier research institution for good reason.
This whole discussion is disturbing for its lack of fact. There’s a lot of understandable anger, but people really must educate themselves on what AA really is. That includes @Koos.
@Robin Bownes
I hear you, it’s all good and well to have an open shop, but remember that without these laws in places corporate SA and the white South African society were not willing to transform and work towards reconciliation? Where do you think we will be had these laws not been around? Are you willing to transform without these laws? I don’t think so.
@Lesego
You are very right, the author and the majority of the anti AA and BEE commentators are not coming up with alternatives, they are just bashing the current laws and not coming up with alternatives.
Seriously people, let’s come with alternatives, and for as long as you don’t have ideas on doing this, try and conciously do more to get the reconciliation thing going.
@Scott – Would you be so kind as to explain AA to us unenlightened ones, especially its aims. I would dearly love to transfer the knowledge to my previously, presently and probably futurely disadvantaged student who became yet another education statistic the other day. (Managed to increase his Math mark phenomonaly but is still seen as a performance “risk” and therefore not allowed to continue with Maths. The fact that he has never had a proper assessment of his skills or seemingly any Maths tuition prior to meeting me, seems not to be taken into account.
I think a lot more people would support AA if it was not so calculatedly engineered to deliver results only in certain showcase areas. I bet America did not go about it in that way, with the aim of creating a small group of black elite and a majority who are still in the same if not worse position.
Titi on September 9th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Spot on Titi, for these white men to criticize AA and BEE they are even insulting their own wives and daughters by implying that for them being a majority in the corporate world is because they are better than them. If fact thats why no white woman is contributing to this topic.
@Lesego – Do you know the saying “Assumption is the mother of all stuff-ups”?
To answer your earlier accusation: the alternative to AA is empowerment for all through world-class affordable education. That would mean competition on an equal basis not just amongst ourselves, but being able to compete with the rest of the world. This would mean no-one has any excuses left to get off their behinds and start working for their own success. Perhaps this concept is still a little arcane and daunting for followers of the “liberation before education” philosophy which is why the ANC is trying so hard to destroy any education happening in this country.
@X Cepting
Sure, happy to share. You’ll forgive me in advance that this space is very limited, and so it’ll be hard to give a completely accurate picture. But obviously feel free to follow up if anything’s unclear. I’ll talk mostly about AA, but will also refer to BEE (because I think you make a false assumption that the aim of BEE is the enrichment of an elite).
First, you ask about the aims of AA. I think it’s important that you distinguish between those and the effects. The ostensible aims of both AA and BBBEE are to equalise opportunity. Although it’ll take up space, I think it’s worth quoting Presidents Johnson and Kennedy as they framed affirmative action.
Kennedy: Projects financed with federal funds must take affirmative action to ensure that hiring and employment practices are free of racial bias.
Johnson: You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: ‘now, you are free to go where you want, do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.’ You do not take a man who for years has been hobbled by chains, liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race, saying, ‘you are free to compete with all the others,’ and still justly believe you have been completely fair . . . This is the next and more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity—not just legal equity but human ability—
not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and as a result.”
In practice, this has meant most benefit for white women and blacks not of American slave descent (e.g., Barack Obama). Just as BEE here hasn’t benefited in exactly the way it was meant to. But, policies like these take generations to run their course. Case in point, in education.
I was a university admissions officer for years, and we affirmed students of colour, women studying science, athletes, students from rural areas, students whose parents didn’t go to uni. How did we do it? The SAT is more or less the entrance exam for American universities. My uni’s average out of 800 per section was 750. Here’s the interesting part, the average white student who scored in that range did so only after writing the exam twice (we considered only the highest score, though we were aware of all their scores) and receiving extra tuition. The average black student scored about 670. Unfair, right? Well, when you consider that the average black student only wrote the exam once (it cost money to write, and most couldn’t afford multiple sittings) with no tuition it makes sense. Their white counterparts scored in the 650-670 range their first sitting over 70% of the time. But the argument we always got was “you took less qualified black candidates who didn’t work for it.” Similarly, we regularly admitted white students
with lower scores from low-income backgrounds. Essentially, we gave affirmative consideration to circumstance. The same is done with hiring and awarding of government contracts. The opportunity is used to augment training and skills and removes excuses of using networks (cronyism by another word) for hiring and contracting, because the previously disadvantaged are obviously locked out of those networks.
The intent of BBBEE is similar. But, it has allowed those most able to take advantage early to do so to the tune of millions of Rands. Still, the concept of increasing black ownership in companies, mandating a second look at candidates who don’t have the network to get their foot in the door, and saying that companies must contract with those that may not be their friends is not unjust. It does discriminate and isn’t a solution, just as AA is considered just a beginning. However, it’s dishonest to say that people of colour should now go get it all on their own when they’re still mostly disempowered, lacking access to capital, and lacking access to networks, not to mention quality education. BBBEE is a necessary evil for the time being that needs serious adjustment to function properly.
If you’d like some more background and rationale for AA, I highly recommend reading the Supreme Court decision in the Bakke case and the book The Shape of the River for starters. Bakke I’m sure you can Google. I didn’t follow what happened to your student?