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In South Africa, and in other countries, moral discrimination has posed difficult problems in terms of

actual agreement on what it is and the actual practice of it. It has not only posed these challenges to

legal entities such as the courts but also to individuals who puzzle on what it actually is. In a country

such as South Africa, it may seem inappropriate and insensitive to argue against the practice of

affirmative action especially with the history of blatant discrimination against black South Africansduring the apartheid regime. However, both the arguments, in support and against the idea, have an

intuitive appeal. This paper presents a limited defence of affirmative action as well as the way that it

is practised in South Africa. This paper also seeks to explore the different ways to discriminate

between job applicants based on gender or race and to establish the level of success each different

method provides. Furthermore this paper responds to the most serious objections to affirmative

action. These objections include the fact that the current generation of white South Africans is not

responsible for the discrimination practised in the past and claims that affirmative action in itself is

unjust and unfair. EDIT

Affirmative action in South Africa can be understood as a remedial strategy that seeks to address the

legal historical exclusion of a group of people (Hawker, 2000). It refers to all the intentional efforts toincrease the representation of disadvantaged groups in a variety of institutions and occupations

(Adam, 1997).Generally, the notion of affirmative action might refer to the redistribution of

resources and opportunities, some social responsibility programmes such that preferential

treatment is given to previously disadvantaged communities (Maphai, 1989). Affirmative action may

mean different things to different people, for example, the recruitment of black people into

previously discriminatory institutions or the fair and equal treatment of everyone (Maphai, 1989).

For the purposes of this paper, the notion of affirmative action will be narrowed down into its

application of preferential treatment of previously disadvantaged parties in the work place. Unless

stated otherwise, previously disadvantaged parties in the context of this paper refers to non-white

South Africans, namely; blacks, Indians and coloureds.

Vincent T Maphai (1989) Affirmative action in South Africa a

genuine option?, Social Dynamics: A journal of African studies, 15:2, 1-24, DOI:

7/29/2019 Ethics Essay on Affirmative action

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10.1080/02533958908458471

The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Jun., 1997), pp. 231-249