TRANSFORMATION IS A BUSINESS IMPERATIVE

Stating the obvious, the broad objectives of Affirmative Action are really to advance previously disadvantaged South Africans in corporate.
 
It is a fact that Affirmative Action makes no mention of the fields or functions in which this advancement is to happen, so naturally one would assume that it should be throughout an organization’s value chain.

Now, if we take a step back and ask ourselves if previously disadvantaged South Africans are transforming corporate SA, the honest answer based on my observation is NO! I know many people believe we are making strides. However, I’d argue that there are equally many decision makers in corporate that, to this day, devise ways and means to undermine transformation initiatives such as AA.
 
To this day, the 'lack of skill' reason is still cited as a major reason why transformation is so slow. Even our charters - which are aimed at forcing corporate to comply at least through targets - have, in their own way, reduced Affirmative Action to a numbers game. What affirmative Action has highlighted though, is for me, gaps in our approach to corporate transformation. It seems not enough to rely on Affirmative Action as an intervention to transform corporate SA. The very fact that companies are found to be compliant with charter requirements yet no black people occupy positions of power or influence (e.g.) Finance Director, Marketing Director, Managing Director, Operations Director over and above Corporate Affairs Director, HR Director etc. Whilst the latter are important roles, they can largely be classified as support roles and are sometimes not in the core of business influence.
 
We need to take a step back and evaluate or intervene and judge them on their impact to transform corporate SA for the better.