Affirmative action not solely to blame for policy failure

Dr Ralph Mathekga, a political analyst and author writes in News24 that Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald has intensified his attack on affirmative action, blaming the policy for all things that went wrong in SA in the past 25 years. In his latest take, Groenewald demanded that SA should ban affirmative action because the policy has only brought about nepotism, incompetence and general paralysis in the public sector. Mathekga writes that the disappointing part of the debate about affirmative action in SA is that it is based on myths that pass for facts. Mathekga writes that when looking at the myth that affirmative action is responsible for all policy failures and corruption we have seen in the public service, he says we all agree that there have been serious policy lapses in the public sector in SA, resulting in nepotism and corruption. He adds, however, that the problem is that when general policy failure happens, it is unjustifiable to conclude that the general policy failures are caused by affirmative action. Mathekga writes that the correct statement would be to say that government has failed in its implementation of general policy including affirmative action. He says the response should be to strengthen government capacity to be able to design and implement complex policies such as affirmative action.