Dear Black Professionals

I couldn't write you a short letter due to time constraints; apologies.

I once criticised the existence and necessity of racially based organisations like Black Management Forum (BMF) and the Broederbond, especially during this era of democratic dispensation. The BMF responded swiftly and angrily; their anger was justifiable; I was wrong. People belonging to various backgrounds should exercise their right to belong to organisations of their choice to advance their causes.

Twenty years after the attainment of democracy, we haven't yet become a normal society - much should still be done to improve the lives of our people and thus organisations such as Black Business Council, and Black Lawyers Association etc - have a crucial lobbying, human capital and entrepreneurial developmental role to play. I hope to join the Association of Black Securities & Investment Professionals in the near future. Having said this, I want to present a few points that we should do to advance black professionals and entrepreneurs.

Firstly, we should stop playing the victim. Inasmuch as the effects of apartheid are still tormenting and haunting our country, we should pay more attention to the present and to the future. Black people and black professionals in particular, should not continue to behave as if we are still in the apartheid era and therefore still victims. We have allowed ourselves to become victims of victimhood.

My argument is supported by the novelist, Zakes Mda. During the speech he delivered at the University of Cape Town after receiving an Honorary Doctorate, Mda said:

"Once we were victims. Alas, we internalised victimhood and made it part of our psyche. Somehow we survived. But, even as survivors, we continue to worship at the altar of perpetual victimhood. Self-pity is not pretty at all. Victimhood makes us look so unattractive".

I am not suggesting that we should forget about apartheid, but my point is that let's move forward - our future is more important than our past. Approximately 200 years after the abolishment of slavery, South Americans still talk about slavery with hushed tones, but still, they have moved on in terms of reconstructing their society.

The constant use of the race card perpetuates victimhood. Moreover, we like exaggerating our perceived plight and minimal economic participation. The truth is that black professionals have got huge stakes in big business through the Public Investment Corporation, union investments and other pension funds. Black professionals occupy senior positions on the Boards of Directors and Executive Management Committees of the JSE listed companies.

Secondly, when it comes to the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), we should avoid some of the mistakes that were done in the last 20 years wherein BEE only made a small black elite very rich while the majority of the previously disadvantaged remain very poor. Black entrepreneurs should not just strive to acquire shareholding in existing companies, but should add value and create new wealth.

Before Sanlam struck a deal with Patrice Motsepe's led Ubuntu consortium, the company had about 10 000 black clients. The BEE shareholders helped Sanlam to increase its black clients to between 1,6 and 1,7 million. Andile Ngcaba, the leader of the BEE consortium which bought a stake in Dimension Data has increased the company's book value substantially by bringing in some lucrative business deal from African countries. There are some black entrepreneurs who started some successful business venture with very little capital and they created several jobs.

It is almost impossible to get the funding for entrepreneurial ventures in South Africa, but in some instances where some black entrepreneurs got the money to fund their business ventures, they squandered the money on things that had nothing to do with the business. An example of this was when in 2004 the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) issued the Underserviced Area License (USAL) to small businesses owned by black entrepreneurs to deploy telecommunications infrastructure to the rural and other under-serviced areas. The government advanced R5m to each of these companies, but only two USAL implementations were successful. The bulk of the money advanced was used to buy sport cars, residential properties, funding overseas trips and colourful funerals. I just shook my head.

Thirdly, true empowerment will happen when black professionals endeavour to gain relevant technical experience related to their chosen careers. Being microwaved into some senior managerial position without acquiring the necessary technical skills constitutes the worst form of affirmative action and disempowerment. Minister Malusi Gigaba reportedly remarked that when various business delegations make presentations to him, a black professional mostly does the introductory remarks and then hands over to his/her white colleague to present the technical and operational details.

Gigaba insisted that black professionals should also acquaint themselves with technical issues. When you hold a senior position without having made your hands dirty technically as you go through the ranks, you don't get the respect of your peers who rightfully see you as nothing other than a glorified administrator. Job hopping has also robbed us of opportunities of gaining proper professional hard skills and competencies; spend at least three years in an organisation before moving to the next employer.

Fourthly, when we win tenders, we should deliver quality projects. It is common knowledge that some of these roads that are easily swept away when it rains were constructed by black companies. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the advanced project money is wasted on glamorous weddings, sport cars, and other personal material accumulation.

Since the attainment of democracy, we have stopped our role of being community activists. It is on this premise that when there are education, sport, safety and security, and other policy related meetings, it is largely white people who attend. Black parents should get more involved in the school work of their children. We should confront black fathers who don't maintain or spend time with their children; we know them - they are our neighbours, relatives and friends.

What is even worse, it is whites who contributes and participate actively to BEE policy related debates. Our white counterparts have cleverly used this gap and insisted that local production should be viewed as BEE because this suits them very well.

White entrepreneurs have actually achieved a lot in terms of toning down BEE to the extent where a 100% white owned company can achieve BEE Level 1 status. On the other hand, a 100% black owned company can be placed at BEE Level 6 and the implications of this are very bad. The era of getting free shareholding or business solely because you are black has come to an end. I put it to you that being black is not a commodity and capital doesn't have colour.

Whinging about colonialism, apartheid, and Chinese commercial imperialism will not assist us in achieving professional and entrepreneurial excellence. You will never hear South Koreans and Vietnamese complaining non-stop about their unpleasant histories that were characterised by foreign subjugation, poverty, military dictatorships and wars. Against these odds, South Korea and Vietnam have become newly industrialised countries and are powerful symbols of nations shunning victimhood by pursuing excellence. If we implement proposals contained in this letter, our yeaning for true empowerment will be realised sooner.

Yours in the service of humanity,

Rabelani Dagada Jnr

Dagada is a development economist based at the Wits Business School. You can follow him on Twitter: @Rabelani_Dagada

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