Date: 09/10/2003
Source: The Presidency
Title: Mbeki: Black Management Forum annual conference
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA, THABO MBEKI, AT THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE BLACK MANAGEMENT FORUM, Cape Town, 9 October 2003
Master of Ceremonies,
BMF National Board,
Madame President,
BMF Executive and Regional Presidents,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be with you at your annual conference.
As we all know, we are six months away from the First Decade of our Freedom. I hope that this important leadership of our people will use the occasion of this annual conference to reflect on the momentous developments of the decade of freedom that we are about to celebrate next year and find a way of building on the progress that we have made as we strive towards a truly non-racial, non-sexist democracy.
A relevant challenge for the Black Management Forum (BMF) would undoubtedly be to make a proper analysis as to whether we, as a country, have made the necessary advances in changing the management and skill profile of our country.
Indeed, all of us must answer the question: who manages South Africa today! We must answer the question as to who manages the factories, the companies and all centres that turn the wheels of our economy.
We must pose this question not because we think that some of our compatriots are less able to manage South Africa than others. We pose this question precisely because we come from a past that made few of our compatriots to manage our country in exclusion to the rest. We address this question because at the heart of our democracy is the challenge to ensure that all South Africans jointly govern, reconstruct, develop and manage our country.
The annual report of the Commission for Employment Equity for the 2001-2002 reveals the following:
* In total employment, black employees represent 77% (Africans 60%, Coloureds 13% and Indians 4%) and whites 23%. Women represent 36% and men 64%.
* Yet, black employees make up 25% of top management positions in South Africa. Of this 25%, Africans constitute 8%, Coloureds 13% and Indians 4%. White employees constitute 75% of top management positions. 12% of these top managers are women while 88% are men.
* In the next category of senior management, blacks represent 20%, with Africans being 10%, Coloureds 5% and Indians 5%. Whites still constitute the majority of employees in senior management with 80%. Women hold 18% and men 82% of this category.
* At the professionally qualified and middle management level, black employees represent 50% of all employees while whites constitute 50%.
* Among those at the lower end of the social strata, blacks represent 83% of non-permanent employees while whites account for 17%.
In addition, a survey by Deloitte & Touche has indicated that blacks constituted only seven percent of executive management.
Many of us at this conference know that there are many successes that our young democracy has achieved. We know that our freedom is firmly grounded. South Africans enjoy a Bill of Rights and many, who just ten years ago had their rights trampled, today enjoy the fruits of a hard-won democracy.
We are also aware that we have managed, in a space of less than ten years, to bring the basic services to millions of our people, especially in the rural and shanty areas of our country, which for years have known no other life except that of neglect, abuse, degradation and poverty.
Even as we contend with the myriad of challenges facing our society, we continue to ensure that through our programmes and partnerships, the poor experience real changes for the better in their living conditions and that they, themselves, play their part as agents of change.
Indeed, nobody can lecture to us about the fact that, through our collective efforts, we have managed to pull an ailing economy from the brink of collapse to a respectable and healthy position that is in today.
At the same time, however, it is clear from the information contained in the report that we have referred to, that in the area of employment equity and the management of South African companies, we have not moved forward sufficiently, so as to ensure that this important part of the South African society is so transformed that it contributes towards the creation of a non-racial and non-sexist democracy.
Indeed, from the data that we have cited, it is clear that we are still faced with a huge challenge of ensuring that all South Africans have an opportunity and the necessary skills to participate fully in the management of their country.
As we approach the end of an important decade in the life of our freedom, we would be justified to express impatience with the slow movement towards achieving our stated goal of a transformed society.
Clearly, where there are deliberate obstacles placed to frustrate our national programme of achieving equity and empowerment, we should act decisively. This is the duty of all social forces, government, the private sector, trade unions as well as professional organisations such as the BMF.
At the time of the release of the annual report of the Commission for Employment Equity, which we have quoted, the Minister of Labour, Membathisi Mdladlana, expressed dissatisfaction with the number of blacks that are appointed to top and senior management levels. He ascribed the slow pace of change to 'resistance to workplace transformation'.
BMF represents, at the work place, managers and senior leadership of the various companies. We need to ask ourselves questions about whether we are doing enough to bring about transformation at all levels of our companies. It may well be that at times we concentrate more on ensuring that as individuals we advance our positions. This is perfectly normal and must obviously happen.
But we should, at the same time, ensure that we use our leadership positions to work for faster transformation process at our work places and ensure that even those who are at the lowest rung of the employment ladder get a fair deal.
Furthermore, BMF is a professional body that seeks, among other things, the total transformation of workplaces so that many black professionals that it represents should be accorded a better chance to utilise their skills and expertise to contribute to the growth and development of our economy and society.
Accordingly, it is in the interest of BMF to look closely at all these matters and work-out strategies that would help us to achieve the objectives that we set for ourselves in 1994 of creating a truly non-racial, non-exist society.
In this regard, we would be aware that one of the on-going challenges as we transform our society is the question of helping to impart appropriate skills to all our people. Obviously, this matter is related to the profile of studies that are undertaken by students, especially those from the black communities.
A survey conducted by the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) on graduates from South African universities who obtained their qualifications between 1990 and 1998 gives one of the reasons why in the decade that is about to end we are still having a huge deficit of managers and other skilled workers, especially among black people.
In the Register of Graduates, a database of the HSRC that is updated annually, 2672 graduates responded to a survey, which shows the kind of challenges facing all of us. Although this is not a survey of all graduates, but only of those who responded to a questionnaire, it does indicate the levels of difference between students from different backgrounds.
According to those who responded, the survey shows that in the eight-year period, in the natural sciences there were 34% black graduates and 64,6% white graduates and the rest being unknown. In the field of engineering, 89,5% of graduates were white and only 4,3% African, 3,8% Indian and 1,9% Coloureds. In economic management whites made up 67,7% graduates, while Africans constituted 17,8%, Coloureds and Indians making 12,6%. It is only in education where Africans constituted the majority of graduates and in humanities and arts where they had almost the same percentage as that of whites.
Of course, the fields of education and humanities and arts are important. But the main motive forces of modern economies are those fields in which blacks are not adequately represented. This is the challenge to all of us who are gathered here.
We know that in many instances there are insufficient preparations for black students in the critical subjects of mathematics, sciences and economics.
It is therefore important that this conference of the BMF should come out with programmes, including mentoring programmes, that would mobilise all our people to give a helping hand to black students so that they can take-up subjects in the relevant fields that we have indicated.
Furthermore, we are all aware that parliament has passed legislation on black economic empowerment (BEE). This is the matter that would pose one of the critical challenges in the second decade of our freedom. BMF and other professional and business organisations have a duty to work together with government to ensure that we succeed in the implementation of this programme.
We rely on your organisation to continue playing a critical role because this organisation has played a similarly important role when it appointed a commission to look into the matters of black economic empowerment.
That commission, as we all know, has helped us to focus our collective mind to this matter of BEE and ensured that we move with the necessary speed to prioritise the matters that have informed our legislation. As we move forward together we are faced with a bigger challenge.
As we approach our 10th anniversary of freedom, let us recommit ourselves to the objectives of our national democratic revolution and ensure that no sector and aspect of the South African society is not transformed. Let us not postpone any longer the coming of dawn on all our shores. To achieve all these and more, we need the leadership and vision of BMF.
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
9 October 2003
Source: The Presidency
Title: Mbeki: Black Management Forum annual conference
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA, THABO MBEKI, AT THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE BLACK MANAGEMENT FORUM, Cape Town, 9 October 2003
Master of Ceremonies,
BMF National Board,
Madame President,
BMF Executive and Regional Presidents,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be with you at your annual conference.
As we all know, we are six months away from the First Decade of our Freedom. I hope that this important leadership of our people will use the occasion of this annual conference to reflect on the momentous developments of the decade of freedom that we are about to celebrate next year and find a way of building on the progress that we have made as we strive towards a truly non-racial, non-sexist democracy.
A relevant challenge for the Black Management Forum (BMF) would undoubtedly be to make a proper analysis as to whether we, as a country, have made the necessary advances in changing the management and skill profile of our country.
Indeed, all of us must answer the question: who manages South Africa today! We must answer the question as to who manages the factories, the companies and all centres that turn the wheels of our economy.
We must pose this question not because we think that some of our compatriots are less able to manage South Africa than others. We pose this question precisely because we come from a past that made few of our compatriots to manage our country in exclusion to the rest. We address this question because at the heart of our democracy is the challenge to ensure that all South Africans jointly govern, reconstruct, develop and manage our country.
The annual report of the Commission for Employment Equity for the 2001-2002 reveals the following:
* In total employment, black employees represent 77% (Africans 60%, Coloureds 13% and Indians 4%) and whites 23%. Women represent 36% and men 64%.
* Yet, black employees make up 25% of top management positions in South Africa. Of this 25%, Africans constitute 8%, Coloureds 13% and Indians 4%. White employees constitute 75% of top management positions. 12% of these top managers are women while 88% are men.
* In the next category of senior management, blacks represent 20%, with Africans being 10%, Coloureds 5% and Indians 5%. Whites still constitute the majority of employees in senior management with 80%. Women hold 18% and men 82% of this category.
* At the professionally qualified and middle management level, black employees represent 50% of all employees while whites constitute 50%.
* Among those at the lower end of the social strata, blacks represent 83% of non-permanent employees while whites account for 17%.
In addition, a survey by Deloitte & Touche has indicated that blacks constituted only seven percent of executive management.
Many of us at this conference know that there are many successes that our young democracy has achieved. We know that our freedom is firmly grounded. South Africans enjoy a Bill of Rights and many, who just ten years ago had their rights trampled, today enjoy the fruits of a hard-won democracy.
We are also aware that we have managed, in a space of less than ten years, to bring the basic services to millions of our people, especially in the rural and shanty areas of our country, which for years have known no other life except that of neglect, abuse, degradation and poverty.
Even as we contend with the myriad of challenges facing our society, we continue to ensure that through our programmes and partnerships, the poor experience real changes for the better in their living conditions and that they, themselves, play their part as agents of change.
Indeed, nobody can lecture to us about the fact that, through our collective efforts, we have managed to pull an ailing economy from the brink of collapse to a respectable and healthy position that is in today.
At the same time, however, it is clear from the information contained in the report that we have referred to, that in the area of employment equity and the management of South African companies, we have not moved forward sufficiently, so as to ensure that this important part of the South African society is so transformed that it contributes towards the creation of a non-racial and non-sexist democracy.
Indeed, from the data that we have cited, it is clear that we are still faced with a huge challenge of ensuring that all South Africans have an opportunity and the necessary skills to participate fully in the management of their country.
As we approach the end of an important decade in the life of our freedom, we would be justified to express impatience with the slow movement towards achieving our stated goal of a transformed society.
Clearly, where there are deliberate obstacles placed to frustrate our national programme of achieving equity and empowerment, we should act decisively. This is the duty of all social forces, government, the private sector, trade unions as well as professional organisations such as the BMF.
At the time of the release of the annual report of the Commission for Employment Equity, which we have quoted, the Minister of Labour, Membathisi Mdladlana, expressed dissatisfaction with the number of blacks that are appointed to top and senior management levels. He ascribed the slow pace of change to 'resistance to workplace transformation'.
BMF represents, at the work place, managers and senior leadership of the various companies. We need to ask ourselves questions about whether we are doing enough to bring about transformation at all levels of our companies. It may well be that at times we concentrate more on ensuring that as individuals we advance our positions. This is perfectly normal and must obviously happen.
But we should, at the same time, ensure that we use our leadership positions to work for faster transformation process at our work places and ensure that even those who are at the lowest rung of the employment ladder get a fair deal.
Furthermore, BMF is a professional body that seeks, among other things, the total transformation of workplaces so that many black professionals that it represents should be accorded a better chance to utilise their skills and expertise to contribute to the growth and development of our economy and society.
Accordingly, it is in the interest of BMF to look closely at all these matters and work-out strategies that would help us to achieve the objectives that we set for ourselves in 1994 of creating a truly non-racial, non-exist society.
In this regard, we would be aware that one of the on-going challenges as we transform our society is the question of helping to impart appropriate skills to all our people. Obviously, this matter is related to the profile of studies that are undertaken by students, especially those from the black communities.
A survey conducted by the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) on graduates from South African universities who obtained their qualifications between 1990 and 1998 gives one of the reasons why in the decade that is about to end we are still having a huge deficit of managers and other skilled workers, especially among black people.
In the Register of Graduates, a database of the HSRC that is updated annually, 2672 graduates responded to a survey, which shows the kind of challenges facing all of us. Although this is not a survey of all graduates, but only of those who responded to a questionnaire, it does indicate the levels of difference between students from different backgrounds.
According to those who responded, the survey shows that in the eight-year period, in the natural sciences there were 34% black graduates and 64,6% white graduates and the rest being unknown. In the field of engineering, 89,5% of graduates were white and only 4,3% African, 3,8% Indian and 1,9% Coloureds. In economic management whites made up 67,7% graduates, while Africans constituted 17,8%, Coloureds and Indians making 12,6%. It is only in education where Africans constituted the majority of graduates and in humanities and arts where they had almost the same percentage as that of whites.
Of course, the fields of education and humanities and arts are important. But the main motive forces of modern economies are those fields in which blacks are not adequately represented. This is the challenge to all of us who are gathered here.
We know that in many instances there are insufficient preparations for black students in the critical subjects of mathematics, sciences and economics.
It is therefore important that this conference of the BMF should come out with programmes, including mentoring programmes, that would mobilise all our people to give a helping hand to black students so that they can take-up subjects in the relevant fields that we have indicated.
Furthermore, we are all aware that parliament has passed legislation on black economic empowerment (BEE). This is the matter that would pose one of the critical challenges in the second decade of our freedom. BMF and other professional and business organisations have a duty to work together with government to ensure that we succeed in the implementation of this programme.
We rely on your organisation to continue playing a critical role because this organisation has played a similarly important role when it appointed a commission to look into the matters of black economic empowerment.
That commission, as we all know, has helped us to focus our collective mind to this matter of BEE and ensured that we move with the necessary speed to prioritise the matters that have informed our legislation. As we move forward together we are faced with a bigger challenge.
As we approach our 10th anniversary of freedom, let us recommit ourselves to the objectives of our national democratic revolution and ensure that no sector and aspect of the South African society is not transformed. Let us not postpone any longer the coming of dawn on all our shores. To achieve all these and more, we need the leadership and vision of BMF.
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
9 October 2003
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