I have been very critical of Johannesburg airport and they deserve it, but the problems with their airport runs much deeper than confusion, lack of organization, and rude incompetent employees.
While in South Africa, I learned that the country has a quota policy for employment where blacks are at the top of the quota system, followed by colors [which is not considered pejorative like in the United States], and finally whites. The intent of this policy is to reverse and remedy the generations of apartheid. So, what the country is experiencing is a degree of white flight by whites who can leave or don’t have so much invested in the country that they don’t want to leave or don’t have to leave.
So, a lot of blacks who were denied equal education are getting jobs that they are not qualified to do. Not jobs that they can’t do, but jobs they have limited training to do. Does this mean that the country should do nothing, but displacing whites before blacks can be trained is not the answer. The result is a brain drain … a la Zimbawe.
The airport is just one example of the disastrous effects of displacing capable workers with people who have not been trained. This also further divide people. The quota system also has the effect of creating a feeling of entitlement. The majority of the airport employees that we encountered were rude, disinterested in what they were doing, or seemed completely overwhelmed.
I certainly think that South Africa should remedy the legacy of apartheid, but is this the way?
