Name: Justin Daines

Age: 19

Occupation: Student

Dear Mr Ramaphosa

There’s been a radical shift for me over the past 2 years when it comes to the question of, “Will I stay in South Africa?” In the beginning months of my relationship, which began near the end of 2017, I told my girlfriend that I want to stay in South Africa, that there’s such natural beauty here and that I believe I have a future here.

Fast-forward to April 2019, and I can’t wait to get out. This is why:

As a white person in SA, I am a minority. I belong to a minority group that makes up approximately 8% of the population of SA. I was born in 1999, five years after the ANC government came to power. Despite this, almost 20 years after my birth in a democratic SA, I am being discriminated against.

Race-based laws are destroying this country. It can be said, without a doubt, that BBBEE and Affirmative Action are to blame for the collapse of the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in this country. When an employer appoints an employee, based on their skin colour, who is not the best candidate for the job, he/she will obviously not get the best possible output from that employee. When this happens over and over again, the business will be affected. Retrenching white employees with years of experience with an under-skilled black person seems to be your current “solution” to the issue of creating jobs.

Merit-based appointment is the only solution for growth and development in SA. Encourage all individuals to work equally as hard to fight for positions, to earn appointments and to work hard to ensure they are always the best candidate for the job. It is highly demotivating for a white person who has an 85% aggregate in matric to be told their marks are not good enough to study medicine. Meanwhile, their black friend with a 70% aggregate is accepted, while they went to the same school and lived across the road from one another, etc.

With groups like BLF and EFF constantly threatening to take the land from white people and shouting about killing white people, why would white people wish to stay in an environment such as this? On top of this, the crime in SA is terrible due to an understaffed police force, an ineffective army, overcrowded prisons and the failure of the justice system.

Would I choose life in SA as a white South African where I am constantly subjected and reminded of the colour of my skin or would I go overseas and live as an average citizen where everyone is actually equal, an element of our Constitution which is blatantly ignored? Put yourself in my shoes, Mr Ramaphosa.

Kind Regards

Justin Daines