"South Africa has benefited from fair AA (Affirmative Action) interventions to remove both blatant and subtle forms of societal discrimination towards Black residents who could not access lucrative educational and employment opportunities. As such, it provides a good model to study for global AA initiatives. Like the U.S., South Africa continues to work towards using its diversity to boost national competitiveness.
2 This has been particularly important following the legalized racism that existed in South Africa's apartheid era which meant that Blacks and other people of color could only serve as unskilled or semi-skilled workers and could not rise above junior management positions. The same was true of women, who had faced years of gender discrimination in South Africa.
From 1994 to 1999, President Nelson Mandela's administration embraced AA to transform the South African workforce. Its AA program provided equal access to minorities, so they could fill jobs previously inaccessible during Apartheid. The Employment Equity Act (No. 55 of 1998), which focused on providing employment equity to historically disadvantaged groups in South Africa, prohibited identity-based discrimination, stating that "no person may unfairly discriminate, directly or indirectly, against an employee in any employment policy or practice, on one or more grounds including race, gender, pregnancy, marital status, family responsibility, ethnic or social origin, color, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, HIV status, conscience, belief, political opinion, culture, language, and birth." As another AA intervention, the Employment Equity Act (Chapter 11, No. 5) required that organizations take relevant steps to promote equal opportunity by eliminating discrimination in employment policies and practices.
When White South Africans protested AA due to fears of losing previously enjoyed unearned privileges, Mandela responded by convincing White South Africans that racial inclusion was South Africa's only way to re-engage with the global community after Apartheid.
3 Specifically, Mandela granted government contracts (i.e., architectural construction, roadway design, training of staff, etc.) to institutions whose equity partners were members of formerly disadvantaged groups.
4 This diversity requirement did not constitute discrimination towards Whites, as it gave people of all skin colors access to lucrative jobs. This, in turn, has encouraged companies to diversify their management and has made South African teams and contractors more competitive, as they can more easily satisfy the needs of diverse populations locally and across the globe. South Africa's AA and diversity management efforts have been seen as a success, demonstrating that accessibility and inclusion can create a fair economy for people of all backgrounds, and can be used as a model for all AA initiatives globally.
5 Therefore, other nations such as the United States can certainly benefit from South Africa's AA best practices to enhance their own diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) initiatives towards the integration of minorities and women in all workplaces and ranks."