Does Systemic Racism Exist in Africa?

–– Paul Schlehlein

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Dis-Chem, the second-largest retail pharmacy chain in South Africa, has faced significant criticism over the past two years over a leaked memo that prohibited any further hiring and promotion of white people. Is this an example of racism or systemic racism and what’s the difference?

Systemic racism refers to laws and policies in a society that discriminate against people based on their race. The Cambridge Dictionary defines systemic racism as “policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society…that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on race.”  

Continue reading

TARIF: The Rotten Fruit from Affirmative Action

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Friday, July 14th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga

The Rotten Fruit from Affirmative Action

This month marks the 20th anniversary that the Maputo Protocol was adopted, a women-specific document urging affirmative action on behalf of females in Africa. 

This document lists a number of women’s rights, including the right not to be discriminated against, which according to this document, means that “states are required to integrate a gender perspective in their policy decisions.” 

Here we see again the evils of affirmative action at play, this time not in relation to race but to gender. This is not about equal opportunity. It is about forcing equality. 

Continue reading

TARIF: South Africa’s Systemic Racism

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Friday, July 7th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga

In May of this year, 2023, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the Employment Equity Amendment Bill of 2020. This bill amends the EEA, the Employment Equity Acts of 1998, which demands that employers have an equity plan reaching numerical goals for certain designated groups. This came two months before the recent landmark case in the United States, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, whereby the US Supreme Court considered race-based college admissions to be unconstitutional.

Continue reading