{"id":112796,"date":"2018-04-11T02:47:44","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T00:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/south-african-business-must-tackle-its-deeply-rooted-prejudice-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2018-04-11T02:47:44","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T00:47:44","slug":"south-african-business-must-tackle-its-deeply-rooted-prejudice-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/south-african-business-must-tackle-its-deeply-rooted-prejudice-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"South African business must tackle its deeply rooted prejudice | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

South African business must tackle its deeply rooted prejudice<\/a>: <\/p>\n

The white captains of South African business need to change their ways. <\/span> Shutterstock<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

South African business\u2019s biggest obstacle may not be government corruption, economic radicalism or skills shortages. It may be deep-rooted race and gender biases in the mainstream economy \u2013 which are more damaging because those who hold them do not know that they do.<\/p>\n

A pointed example is a court action which cost Mark Lamberti, CEO of motor and logistics company Imperial Holdings, his place on the board of South Africa\u2019s state power utility Eskom.<\/p>\n

The North Gauteng High Court found that Imperial, under Lamberti\u2019s leadership, passed over Adila Chowan, an experienced and qualified black woman chartered accountant, for the post of chief financial officer (CFO). They gave it to a white man who, the court found,<\/p>\n

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had no experience of the motor industry \u2026 and little understanding of the Imperial accounting and the complexity of the transactions. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Predictably, Chowan\u2019s professional relationship with the new CFO was not happy, particularly after he made a racially offensive remark about her. She complained and was suspended by the company.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Imperial Holdings CEO Mark Lamberti is in hot water.<\/span> Martin Rhodes\/Business Day<\/span><\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lamberti, a household name in South African business, was actively involved in Chowan\u2019s case. According to the court record, he told her that she was \u201ca female, employment equity\u201d and was \u201ctechnically competent\u201d. He added that Imperial \u201cwould like to keep her but if she wants to go she must go \u2026 she required three to four years to develop her leadership skills.\u201d <\/p>\n

The \u201cemployment equity\u201d label means she belongs to a group historically discriminated against which, in employment law, is entitled to preference. Chowan was obviously not impressed and lodged a grievance against Lamberti. The matter was escalated to the High Court and Chowan won the case.<\/p>\n

Lamberti, in an e-mail to Imperial staff, denied that he is racist or sexist. He says that when he mentioned Chowan\u2019s \u201cemployment equity\u201d status, he was saying he would like nothing more than to appoint her. He argued that the court did not find that he harboured race or gender prejudice.<\/p>\n

Many have rejected Lamberti\u2019s denial and insisted that he is deeply prejudiced. This may miss the point. It may also, ironically, under-estimate how real a problem prejudice in South African business is.<\/p>\n

By focusing on Lamberti\u2019s claimed prejudices, we imply that he is somehow abnormal. The reality may be more serious: that there is nothing particularly prejudiced about Lamberti or Imperial, but that the biases which prevented Chowan becoming CFO and cost her a job are normal in South African business.<\/p>\n

Deep-rooted prejudice<\/h2>\n

Imperial is no obvious bastion of white privilege. Only two of its four executive directors and half its non-executive directors are white; the non-execs include two black women and former ANC cabinet minister Mohammed Valli Moosa. Lamberti is a board member of Business Leadership SA, an association of big business which is considered sympathetic to a majority ruled South Africa. <\/p>\n

And yet it was this company and this CEO who, the court found, preferred a less qualified white man to a black woman and sided with the man when she complained about him.<\/p>\n

If this can happen at Imperial under Lamberti\u2019s watch, it is likely to happens at many other companies. And Lamberti may well genuinely believe that his words and acts were not products of prejudice \u2013 even though they were.<\/p>\n

Lamberti saw Chowan as an \u201cemployment equity\u201d hire, not a colleague with skills. His mention of her \u201cequity\u201d status suggests that he doubted she was up to the job: mentioning that someone is an \u201cemployment equity\u201d employee implies that they are only in the job because of their race and gender. <\/p>\n

Whether Lamberti recognises it or not, his use of the term implies that he questioned Chowan\u2019s ability even though he acknowledged that she is \u201ctechnically competent\u201d. His only credible reason, whether he knows it or not, is that she is neither white nor male.<\/p>\n

It is this deep-rooted attitude, which assumes that white men are competent while black people and women must prove they are (and usually fail in the attempt), which prompted Lamberti and his colleagues to pass over Chowan for someone less qualified. <\/p>\n

Associating white with merit<\/h2>\n

The problem is not that Lamberti and Imperial are unusually prejudiced. It is that, in a society in which one group has used the law to dominate another, it is natural to see the dominating group in skilled positions and to assume that they belong there \u2013 and to assume that the dominated groups don\u2019t belong.<\/p>\n

These assumptions may be so deeply rooted that people hold them without realising that they do. They explain how people and companies who believe themselves to be prejudice-free can exclude black men and women from roles for which their skills equip them.<\/p>\n

One excuse for the prejudice shown to Chowan may be that affirmative action, by preferring some people, creates doubt about whether they are competent. Some who make this excuse insist that business executives cannot be prejudiced because they need to maximise their company\u2019s profits by choosing the best people.<\/p>\n

But if people are used to associating white men with merit and everyone else with its lack, how do they know who the best people are? The Imperial case shows that if they are left to decide, white men will continue to choose other white men over everyone else and will remain convinced that they are rewarding merit rather than race or gender. <\/p>\n

Need for change<\/h2>\n

So, unless laws and policies insist that employers appoint black people and women, white men will continue to dominate not because they are better than everyone else but because they think they are.<\/p>\n

But the case shows too that this is not enough. As long as the attitudes which prompt some to see others as \u201cemployment equities\u201d persist, business will exclude talented black people and women. <\/p>\n

This is not only unfair: it is costly. It deprives business of the skills of many black people and women. It also entrenches business distrust of government and government distrust of business. And it entrenches a reality in which, throughout society, thinking on the economy is influenced by race \u2013 not by what is likely to provide decent livelihoods for all.<\/p>\n

In the few years before 1994, many in business leadership were willing to face the racial patterns of the past and seek to change them. Unless businesses revive that quest, South Africa will continue to pay the price of the hidden prejudices the Imperial case reveals.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

Steven Friedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> The Conversation \u2013 Articles (AFRICA)<\/a><\/small>
\n<\/p>\n

Read more on The Conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Join the fun:<\/strong> Add Your event<\/a> | Submit a Press Release<\/a> | Add your listing<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South African business must tackle its deeply rooted prejudice: The white captains of South African business need to change their ways. Shutterstock South African business\u2019s biggest obstacle may not be government corruption, economic radicalism or skills shortages. It may be deep-rooted race and gender biases in the mainstream economy \u2013 which are more damaging because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[18545,3050,8890,10823,2211,26145,25315,3576,5631],"class_list":{"0":"post-112796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-business","8":"tag-african","9":"tag-conversation","10":"tag-deeply","11":"tag-must","12":"tag-prejudice","13":"tag-rooted","14":"tag-south","15":"tag-tackle","16":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}