This is a long post, the summary is at the bottom!
Starcrest, you may call it code, but they're just speaking logically - you cannot make somebody into an airliner captain overnight - logically, since it takes many years of being an F/O before company minimums will be met. There really isn't some hidden agenda here - I think I can safely speak for everybody when I say that 'hanging onto power', and other such nonsensical ideas which have been quoted on these forums in the past, do not feature in any rational persons thinking.
And people aren't 'doing nothing', they're actively having black crewmembers gain experience, in order to one day get command. No matter which way you take it, that DOES take time. If you mean that more black pilots should be in training, well, thats a different story, and the problem there is one of finances. Even SAA cannot afford to train hundreds of pilots to CPL, frozen ATP, plus a few hours experience.
Your example regarding a foreign black pilot is the crux of the matter. White people understand BEE to be a policy that allows black people to gain an economic foothold, and I feel the great majority accept that. We understand that the past system disadvantaged them, and BEE is the means of redressing the imbalance that has resulted - but what we do NOT accept is that the government would include foreigners before it's own citizens IF THE LOCALS MET THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS. Sure, if they were unable to source sufficient local people to do the job, then obviously look abroad (a la Cathay etc), since then they could say to the Dept. of Home Affairs "Please let this person stay, we need them, and cannot find anybody here to do the job", as is the norm in other countries. We (if I can say 'we' as white South Africans) did NOT disadvantage the citizens of other countries in Africa by apartheid. (People my age had nothing to do with apartheid either, but that logic doesn't seem to wash somehow!) They were free to do as they pleased without any repressive laws etc.
But to go into greater detail regarding your example - in normal circumstances, that Zimbabwean pilot with more experience on type should have no reason to be allowed to work in SA and gain SA citizenship. Therefore, the less experience white pilot would get the job, again, provided he or she met the minimums. BUT, the government has specifically crafted the BEE laws to allow the employment of anybody, as long as they are black. THAT'S the part we find unfair - what do I owe anybody from Zim/Tanzania/Ghana etc? Why should they benefit at my expense, when I (and many others more experienced than me) am denied the chance of a job flying for MY national airline?
To quote an example of my own - should SAA start employment drives amongst the African American pilot population? Your logic says they should! Yet, they were obviously not disadvantaged by apartheid...
I will now quote as specifically as I am able to, especially for you SKYTORT:
A certain civil engineering consulting firm (I have been asked not to name them, purely for privacy - they are NOT breaking any laws, but rather seek to comply with the governments BEE policies, as you'll see now), has just advertised posts for design engineers to be employed by them. They only advertised in Zimbabwe, since they were not able to find suitably experienced black engineers in the initial (SA) search as far as I understand. The engineer I have been speaking to is currently processing the CV's. That person is 100% sure that work permits will be happily issued by the government - as they said (I quote) 'Duh! Otherwise we wouldn't have advertised there!' This person also felt that the governments BEE policy clearly allowed for it, although they couldn't quote specifics. Nonetheless, it IS happening, right now, in full compliance with the law, in letter and spirit.
Summary:
- I think that most white people understand the point of BEE, but feel it is specifically to redress the imbalance caused by SA's past repressive laws, and should therefore benefit those people who were actually repressed, ie Black South Africans. Nobody else.
- In normal circumstances, foreign pilots applying to work here would need to prove that nobody here could do the job. This is not the case here, but nonetheless, I have seen evidence that professionals in other fields are being given work permits (at the very least) when qualified (white) SA people already exist to fill the job. I therefore feel that this is possible in the aviation job market, and that it is just as unfair and unethical there as here.
Thats enough for now...