Whites are generally the biggest beneficiaries of recruitment and promotion in the workplace, the Labour Department's DG said in Pretoria on Tuesday.

"White people in general are fine. I want to debunk the myth that there is no future for whites... they are benefiting. What is this notion that they are rejected, losing jobs and that some are even going abroad?" Jimmy Manyi said in a public lecture at the Tshwane University of Technology.

The lecture by Manyi, also the president of the Black Management Forum, was about "overcoming hurdles that prevent transformation from being fully implemented in the workplace".

The reason why blacks were not advancing was because companies were deliberately rejecting and ignoring them, Manyi told a packed auditorium.

Companies cited the education system, skills shortage and skills mismatch in a bid to exclude black people.

"We have people in the workplace that are overlooked... Let's recognise people's potential and allow them integration."

Manyi has been outspoken about the implementation of affirmative action.

He warned that employment equity was not part of black economic empowerment and not intended as a poverty alleviation strategy. Instead it was designed for a clearly defined population group. "It reverses racism," he said.