a Little affirmative action can't hurt ? Just BEE nice!

As South Africans (especially as white South Africans) we have been told by politicians (mostly black) that we should accept unequal employment practices giving preference to black candidates over white candidates (strangely enough this is called equal opportunity employment!)

Is it our duty as white South Africans to right the wrongs of the past ?
To pay the price so to speak, and to just stand aside and make space for previously disadvantages brothers and sisters ?

And for how long ?

The common answer from these politicians has been: "For as long as it takes".

There is very little indication of How Long they think this will be.
It has already been more than 10 years.

Perhaps we can't expect repair an ill of a generation to be overcome in 10 years, but is the solution to still allocate opportunity based on race ? Should we give preference to black people today because 10 years ago we gave preference to whites?

Isn't this merely reverse discrimination ?

Isn't this simply neo-apartheid whereby white people are now reduced to being second class citizens just as black people were during apartheid ?

I have some good questions, but not enough answers, but I'm sure the bloggers will help me out...

CNN: South Africa tries Affirmative
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9810/08/safrica.affirmative.action/index.html

Here is what others are writing on the topic:

http://www.blogsouthafrica.net/2007/02/02/affirmative-action-in-the-spotlight/

AA not working for anyone: http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=1518-1522_2149411

Here's to white economic empowerment:
http://finblogs.24.com/ViewBlog.aspx?blogid=14781510-ecc0-48e1-a1a3-0ad6f3e56590
http://finblogs.24.com/ViewComments.aspx?blogid=14781510-ecc0-48e1-a1a3-0ad6f3e56590&mid=db80de32-f788-4a01-b2cf-41992873becd

www.thenakedemperor.co.za

“Affirmative action is couched in fine words – diversity, talent, merit, opportunity, tolerance, development”.

“But when carried out, it is always punitive. In fact, affirmative action must be punitive. It requires the government to target one group for help because of its race or ethnicity. This means it must target all other groups for punishment. This is the logical flipside of affirmative action, but it is widely ignored. And so affirmative action leads to unintended, (but easy predictable consequences. It increases group conflict, as resentment by the punished groups grows and the demands of the beneficiaries increase. It emphasizes group differences, rather than eliminating them. It discourages effort by the beneficiaries, who come to expect special privileges. And it destroys equality before the law”.

- Don Caldwell in his book No more Martyrs Now