beechbum you have to agree, if it were not for affirmative action, you wouldn't have flown with those SAA Cadets in the first place.
There we are you've just proven my point, the more advantaged blacks who make it into the Cadet Scheme were not impoversihed, which means that there's a whole lot of black people out there who are under the dark cloud of poverty who do not even know there's such a thing as an aeroplane flown by a human being.
On the whole then blacks are still lagging behind in most things and yes I agree that the government could do much more to uplift the standards of living for black people. But some of these initiatives come under fire and criticism and people are branded as opportunists who only want to receive things on a silver platter. Do me all a favour go spend 1 day in the life of an average black household in Joe Slovo settlement and try and comprehend how do these people succeed against all these odds
And yes interventions like affirmative action are necessary to bring more blacks into the mainstream economy and certainly within aviation.
The main issue without getting too political is representitivity. Let our aviation in it's entirety reflect the demographics of our country. It can be done easier if everyone understands the concept and supports it. Then one day when we all are on an equal footing we can compete and I'm sure the non pales will win judging by their progress thus far against all odds.