ICT industry is racist, says govt

By Christelle du Toit, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 15 Apr 2008

Black economic empowerment (BEE) is not the reason SA has a skills crisis, but rather institutionalised racism and unwarranted, exorbitant price demands by ICT professionals.

This is the message from government and industry commentators, in reaction to the outcry that followed the release of the Department of Labour's (DOL's) national master scarce skills list last week.

The DOL's Committee on Employment Equity (CEE) chairman, Jimmy Manyi, says: "There should be no apology for the black focus of BEE, as we are trying to reverse a racist setting that has been in place for more than 300 years."

Following the revelation that SA needs 37 565 skilled ICT workers, ITWeb readers were in an uproar. One reader said: "Where are these jobs? I am skilled, yet I struggle to get decent positions...Oh yes, I'm white."

Manyi has, however, dismissed these sentiments, quoting CEE research indicating that 60% of top-level corporate appointments are still white people.

"It is false and mischievous to suggest and insinuate that white people are not appointed."

He says the skills issue is "a very complex matter" with a major influence being "ingrained and institutional racism where, in many organisations, it has become the norm to keep line functions for white people and support functions for black people".

Red herrings

Vukani Mde, spokesman for the minister of trade and industry, says BEE and employment equity (EE) have nothing to do with the country's skills crisis and are merely red herrings.

"You will not find 37 565 ICT specialists sitting at home twiddling their thumbs, unable to find work because they're white," he says, "just as you will not find 37 565 black IT specialists all unable to find work because companies are too racist to hire them."

According to Mde, an education system, which has traditionally not produced the necessary skills, should rather be blamed.

However, he says there is an element of racism in that white, skilled individuals tend to "hold the country ransom" with their skills, because they are unwilling to transfer them to black colleagues.

Lingering racism

Steven Friedman, research associate with the Institute for Democracy in SA and visiting professor at Rhodes University, believes racism has been lingering in SA since 1994.

Friedman says: "We have to be more frank here than most people want to be. There is a deep-seated belief among some white people that black people are not capable of doing complicated tasks," such as those required in IT.

"These attitudes are far deeper embedded in South African business than people let on."

He maintains: "The ICT sector has great transformation challenges and the particular set of problems in this sector is very difficult. IT requires technical skills and there are serious hang-ups around this."

According to Friedman, this racism not only impacts on white people's decisions in business, but also black people's capacity to deliver in the ICT industry.

"If you, as black person, work in an environment where your competency is not taken for granted, it affects your ability," he explains. "Black people pick up that they have to prove themselves and it often affects their self-esteem, which means they do not perform well."

Norma Jamda, account manager at black-owned recruiting company Real Global Solutions, says there is a lot of racism entrenched in the ICT sector.

"Racism is still there, especially in big corporations," she maintains. She says many of the big companies she interacts with still have white, male-dominated workforces, although she did not want to name the organisations specifically.

Too pricey

According to Jamda, ICT salaries are becoming more of a problem than BEE. She says it is not a case of companies offering salaries that are too low, but rather ICT professionals asking for too much.

"Professionals skilled in SAP skills, for example, are asking R650 per hour. Small and medium enterprises simply can't pay those kind of salaries."

Ilan Fluxman, MD of Rocket Science Recruitment, confirms that "corporations that are paying top dollar have no shortage".

According to him, big institutions like banks "are helping ICT professionals to out-price themselves because they can afford to pay exorbitant salaries - they can always push it up a bit more".

He says this is a greater issue than BEE, as companies are often so desperate to get the relevant skills that they will employ anyone they can afford, regardless of race.

"Price is really the issue and the BEE candidates, especially, are completely out-pricing themselves."

Manyi says black people are still paid less than their white counterparts and are afforded less respect, which frustrates them into "job-hopping".

The problem, in Manyi's opinion, is that capitalist - and racist - companies simply do not want to pay enough for black skills to be brought into their fold.