Last week I heard a story that enraged me: a successful Pick & Pay owner wanted to open a secondary Pick & Pay somewhere in the Southern Cape. According to my source Raymond Ackerman told this person that the only way in which he will ever be allowed to open that Pick & Pay was if he gave up 51% of the new shop to a black person.
If this is true then I think Raymond Ackerman should be utterly ashamed of himself and even more so because he is Jewish. Because this is exactly the kind of thing that you would expect to see in Germany in the late 30s. Jews in Germany were forced to undermine their business principles just like whites in South-Africa are being forced to do now. Soon Jews couldn’t own businesses anymore and we all know what happened next. Is this the road for South-Africa as well? I sure as hell hope not, but I do know that it is a slippery slope from where we are now to where the Jews ended up.
After the Holocaust everybody asked how it could’ve happened. Well Edmund Burke said: “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing”. I can’t help but wonder if one day people won’t accuse the Raymond Ackermans of this world of doing nothing.
For the record: I am not some right-wing nut job. At school I campaigned for the end of apartheid and I support the principles of democracy 100%, but one of the most important parts of a democracy is minority rights. And currently the rights of the white minority are being eroded at a concerning rate.
June 16, 2008 at 4:46 pm |
Attie, I agree – a really shortsighted view by RA. I do, however, think that one must keep in mind that the Government has put all the necessary pressure legislation in place to ensure that Business acts in accordance with the race policies of the current Government. It is ironic that the Apartheid Government did precisely the same…