BEE vs Mentoring

Last night while watching Interface on SABC3, Eric Miyeni of Chilli Bush indicated that the situation with blacks that acquire positions or jobs through Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), is that they are not given opportunity to contribute. He highlights that these systems are created to make people fail. Apparently he has observed that there is sudden change when a black manager enters the organisation. Miyeni says,

Everybody stands aside, musicians stop. However, you are expected to dance yet there is no music.

Miyeni is not alone in this observation as Nolitha Facuda also indicated that people are sidelined,

They are there but not seen as part of the organisations.

What I am trying to highlight is, there is a general feeling that black people are isolated and not being mentored into positions they have aquired through BEE. However, BEE is part of employment equity therefore not going anywhere, the only thing that needs to be addressed is the imbalances.

Mentoring is necessary in the workplace especially for people at entry level and those with new positions. The reason being, everybody need some coaching despite her or his qualifications. this is because the workplace is completely different from school. If one is not mentored properly or not mentored at all, that person can be extremely frustrated and end up incompetent. This means the company will also lose.

So, the case raised with problems around BEE are that black people are isolated purposely to make them fail. What the concerned organisations fail to notice is that they will also lose by recruiting people that they do not mentor or train to benefit their companies.

Yesterday on interface, steakholders such as the MD of Black Management Forum (BMF), Jerry Vilakazi, further addressed the issue by indicating that there is a clear reluctance by companies to offer black excecutives oppotunities to implement. He further suggested that this situation ends up with blacks being accused of job popping if they leave such organisations as a result of frustration out of isolation. Somentimes they are accused of destabilising companies when they demand recognition.

In short, lack of mentoring at the work place can create a serious disadvantage not only to an employee but to organisations as well as the country's economy at large.