Cape Town Is Racist?

Is this true? This has been a constant question mark on Cape Town and last year in Q4, it became more intensive as research was published which supported that the answer to the question is yes in the workplace. Having researched 13 companies, which together employed 60,000 people, the findings were that Cape Town is hostile towards black people. It showed that while their white counterparts were being promoted at rates favouring the whites. The benchmark for Cape Town being seen as hostile was in comparison to Johannesburg. Being born and bred in Jozi and having moved down here to the mother city, I am not at all surprised by those stats. Johannesburg has a faster pace than Cape Town. That is not a function of the employer. That is a function of people that live and work in Johannesburg. There is therefore a perception that if you want to grow and further your career, you need to be in Johannesburg. As we have all been trained, “perception is reality”.

“A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be”, Albert Einstein. Observation bias is very natural and even my point of view has to be read with your filters in reaching your own conclusion to the question. The irony with the question when it came up in October last year, was it was at a time when I as a black man in Cape Town was exiting a business which my partner and I had started, having sold to white people whom we were not in a constructive relationship with. You can only imagine the questions and answers that crossed my mind as I was looking to figure out what went wrong. I had moved from Johannesburg to Cape Town, and all my working relationships prior to that have been fantastic with black and white people. I had never been (and hope it is the last time) through such a hostile working environment.

I asked myself if the guys were racist, and had a problem with me because I was black. My partner, who is a white female, was not faring well either with them from a relationship perspective; so my question was “are they sexist”? On observing the relationship the same crowd had with a dear friend of mine (a white male who was older than them) and where that was going (South), it became abundantly clear that it was a chemistry issue. Organisational cultures are complex and so we must not confuse chauvinism or narcissistic people with people that are being racist. Given that all managers are people, the feeling you get when you feel hard done by or you sense inequity as a black employee is real, so I will not deny that. The feeling is true. What it is that has just happened to create the feeling is a matter of opinion, so be careful what “truth you buy”.

I attended an event, hosted by Allan Gray and Accelerate Cape Town, dubbed Inspiration Sessions. I was indeed inspired:

·         First off, I have not been in a room that large in Cape Town with so many black professionals (so great to see that they are there as I do wonder where the black people are in Cape Town).

·         Second, the message shared and the theme, was about engagement with an intent to resolve issues of concern (addressing the young black professionals in the audience as there were some questions raised about succeeding in the corporate environment as black people)

·         Third, there were some white people in the audience (it was a clear minority but we need them in the room when we debate these things as we cannot resolve this problem as blacks only)

·         Last but not least, Cape Town was observed from a slant of “How do we make this city user friendly”? Being a black guy who grew up in Alexandra and having been to Langa and Gugulethu, there are clear differences in people’s styles and attitude (that is before I split it down a colour comparative).

I enjoyed the confidence and energy in the room. The anger is still there, myself included, when it comes to life experiences and the impression left, particularly when there was a difference of race in the difference of opinion. We just need that energy channelled to be constructive and benefit the career growth many seek.

I thought Sello Moloko was inspirational and he gave a very simple and yet extremely eventful account of when he first set foot in Cape Town, and his experiences thereafter in this city. He put it out there, and I think his message is relevant to everyone; “are you going to keep on following leaders who are not exercising any form of wisdom”? It is not going to help our career growth or personal growth if we just complain about the things that are not working as we would like. You need to take action and put in the work required to remedy conditions or situations you are not happy with. You need not be hostile about it, you have to be constructive and look for a sustainable solution.

Instant gratification is clouding expectations a lot today in terms of what people expect from a timing perspective of how things should evolve. BEE is a process, and this message was emphasised in the early days when the strategy was kicking off. This meant it was always clear that it will take time, it just did not define “how long” that time would be. I am happy that I am seeing progress in the process. Cape Town may be behind Johannesburg from a transformation perspective and people mixing it up. Does that mean it is racist when it comes to developing people in their careers?

Sello Moloko arrived at UCT in 1984, and did not have residential accommodation. White students had options as to where they could stay, and he was forced (by law and the university) to stay in Gugulethu if he wished to study at UCT. With no transport infrastructure in place from the university, getting to and fro was challenging, particularly given some of the tests/ exams they would write would start at 19h00. Some black students quit. Some black students chose to protest to this by literally pitching tents on the rugby filed (campus) and staying there. The outcome was the Vice Chancellor of UCT arranged that there be two buses in the mornings and evenings to take them on and off campus from Gugulethu.

When I arrived at UCT in 1993, my conditions were significantly better. I stayed in Smuts Hall, arguably the best res on the campus. It was right on Upper Campus and I needed no public transport to get to and fro as I was right there next to the lecture theatres. The res was at the beginning phases of transformation with about 30% of the population there being black (this was unheard of prior to that). We had to change certain traditions as they were not fitting to the new mix of Smuts Hall Residents (an emotionally testing experience where decision making was challenged purely as being seen to be pro black or pro white).

In 2000 when I walked into Smuts Hall, I was running into more black people in the corridors than white. I am not sure what their ratio was, but having come from my days it was breathtaking to see so many black students who were staying in that res. The students who are not fortunate enough to stay close to campus, have a network of Jamie Shuttles to rely on that run at the oddest of hours relative to my era when they stopped running at 18h00. So in the space of almost three decades we went from no blacks allowed to stay on campus to blacks even staying in the res closest to campus and for those that were not close enough, a proper transport system to help them get on and off campus.

Yes, UCT is a microcosm, but it produces people that become an influence not only on Cape Town but the rest of the country. It would be untrue to say that it has not transformed. It would also be naive to say that it transformed because it was time. It transformed because black or white, people who felt that they belonged took ownership and started taking actions to change it for the better. There were a lot of people that gave up, but some put their head and shoulders into it. If you ask anyone who stayed in Smuts Hall prior to 1994 and said to them that the format of the Smuts Formal would change, or the Toga party would be scrapped, they would have stopped short of violent action to protect the tradition. Compromise was necessary in the engagement to make the future work just as well if not better.

Cape Town is losing its young black talent to Johannesburg and at best importing the senior black talent from there (with great difficulty). How do we make this city more embracing? It starts with every single person residing here getting their head out of the sand and challenging our own belief systems to come up with new ones that will serve this city. What belief systems are you not willing to give up in order to get to the ultimate we want? Steven Covey’s Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People speaks to “seek first to understand, then to be understood”.

A career can be built in Cape Town, even if you are black. It just takes effort and participation on your part, just like anybody else in any other city does who is looking to get ahead. If you choose the right people for you to work with to start with, you will reap what you sow. They will act in your best interest as well as they know that it also serves them. If you are working with someone who is lacking in confidence and is narcissistic, it does not matter what colour you are, you will not succeed in that organisation. Surround yourself with driven, inspired people who have ambition. You will learn from them and they will learn from you which will support your growth. If you join a mediocre team because you don’t want to work too hard, you will at best be mediocre. If you tolerate mediocrity as a person, that is all those around you will serve you with.

Stand up and deliver and nobody can ignore you. If you feel your career growth is not happening or has hit a ceiling, engage those that can influence it in a constructive manner (this is not limited to your line manager or HR, the organisation is bigger than that). Being militant is not going to help the situation, particularly if you are dealing with someone who for their own reasons feels threatened by you. I am sure you have many examples of how you were hard done by in the past. Being a victim is not going to get you to the destination that you want. So make the decision, every time when confronted with a situation you don’t agree with; “do you want to win, or do you want to be right”?