http://www.gulfnews.com/world/South_Africa/10110464.html
Published: 12/03/2007 12:00 AM (UAE) Reuters "Part of the problem with regard to crime lies in the very fast rate of affirmative action since 1994," says FW de Klerk. Whites 'victims of discrimination' The Telegraph Group Limited Pretoria: White South Africans have been made to feel like second class citizens in their own country by employment policies which discriminate in favour of blacks, according to the country's former president, FW de Klerk. De Klerk, who as South Africa's last white leader between 1989 and 1994 was largely responsible for dismantling apartheid, said in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Telegraph: "The implementation of affirmative action has led to a substantial percentage of, not only Afrikaners, but of all whites and coloureds and Indians feeling that their groups are being reduced to a sort of second class citizenship." The intervention of such an influential figure will fuel growing demands by opposition parties and even some within the governing African National Congress party for the policy to be scrapped, as the country faces a dire shortage of skilled workers. The measure was introduced in the late 1990s, to tackle the legacy of apartheid under which blacks were excluded from many jobs. However, it is deeply resented by many whites and is often cited, along with crime, as the main reason why an estimated 840,000 whites have emigrated in the last 10 years. De Klerk said the problem was the way the policy was implemented: "If affirmative action reaches the stage where it becomes institutional racial discrimination, it becomes absolutely unconstitutional." Asked whether it had reached that stage yet the former president, who turns 71 next Sunday, said: "I think in some instances, in some particular municipalities, some particular state departments, yes." Backing calls for the system to be replaced with something that recognises "merit on a non-racial basis", he criticised a recent statement by the South African labour minister, Membathisi Mdladlana, that affirmative action "would never be repealed but would be intensified instead". He said: "It is important to bear in mind that the main vision built into our constitution is that we will be a non-racial state. You can never be a non-racial state if, forever, race is to be a criteria." De Klerk, who appeared to be fully recovered from an operation to remove a tumour from his colon last summer, went further, saying he believed affirmative action is partly to blame for the failure to control the level of violent crime. "Part of the problem with regard to crime lies in the very fast rate of affirmative action since 1994," he said. "The civil service, the police, the prosecution service, have all lost a tremendous amount of experienced people most of whom were dedicated to help make the new South Africa a success. But in this drive of racially-based affirmative action, the country lost that experience and expertise." Crime factor In a country where more than 50 people are murdered every day, the government's insistence that violent crime is falling has led to accusations that it is burying its head in the sand, a perception fuelled by President Thabo Mbeki's recent comment that it was wrong to suggest crime in the country was "out of control". Asked whether he agreed, De Klerk said it depended on the meaning of "out of control". However, he defended Mbeki, saying that he had made clear his "commitment to really tackle the issue with full vigour". De Klerk, who lives on a farm about 64km from Cape Town with his wife Elita, retired from politics in 1997; he remains, however, an influential figure in the white community [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Something is new at Yahoo! Groups. Check out the enhanced email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/kOt0.A/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
