Our children lead us on race non-issues

Professor Jonathan Jansen is a wise and courageous man who calls a spade by its name.

However, in The Times yesterday ("Meritocracy is still a myth") he showed that even he can, sometimes, err.

I like the self-assured manner in which he responded to the Dutch professor's question about whether he was appointed on merit or because he was a shade of black. But then he ruins what could have been a good article by putting merit in opposition to racism.

Merit has nothing to do with race. It means a person has the best ability to do the job.

The problem with affirmative action is that colour is more important than ability, knowledge, experience and skills, and it costs our economy dearly. Fortunately, talented people seldom lose - the organisation that discriminated against them loses.

The attitude of my children and other young people working for my company fascinates me. They are completely colour-blind. The comfortable manner in which they communicate, socialise and work with people of any colour is an example for us older people. However, they do not tolerate incompetence and lack of integrity.

No matter how hard you and I try to be objective, we have our baggage from the apartheid years and we will never be as unbiased as young people.

Dr Hannes Nel, by e-mail

Once again I found Jonathan Jansen's column thought-provoking.

Unfortunately, there will always be racists and people who look down on the disabled and disadvantaged. This is not to say we cannot do anything about it.

To reduce racism is not only for whites to mend their ways but also for blacks to make an effort. The biggest problem we have in the world is people are inclined to generalise.

In days gone by there was a lot of conflict between English-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking South Africans. They called each other rooinek , soutie , rock spider, hairy back and so on. These incidents were settled between the individuals. When someone insults your race, you need to take it from whence it comes. Ignore them - they are like a barking dog.

Recently Pharrell Williams appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and spoke about the "new black". He said: "The new black doesn't blame other races for our issues."

Wilby, by-email