African National Congress Secretary General Gwede-Mantashe
South Africans resent Black success, African National Congress Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said Wednesday.
“When people see a successful Black, they come to (the) conclusion to say that Black should be corrupt or is connected to the ANC,” Mantashe told delegates attending a Black Management Forum Conference in Johannesburg.
Successful entrepreneurs were undermined and smeared, he said.
He gave the example of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Shanduka company.
The company owned a small portion of platinum miner Lonmin, but when things went badly at the mine, he got most of the blame.
“Shanduka, the company where Cyril is a shareholder, owns 9 percent of Lonmin, but when things go bad at that company, it is that 9 percent (that) is to blame. What about the 91 percent of the white shareholders? That is our attitudes toward Black success,” he said.
As long as there was such an attitude, the country would not go far.
He also lashed out at Black business people saying they were concerned about preserving their positions and not allowing others to learn from them.
“Black executives don’t network. They are cushioned against interacting with others. Instead, they fight about who should go to the next level among themselves instead of networking and having an impact on what should happen in society,” he said.
Forty-four people were killed during a violent strike at Lonmin Platinum in Marikana, North West, in August 2012.
Thirty-four people, mostly striking mine workers, died in a clash with police on Aug. 16, 2012.
In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed.
Source: iol.co.za
