It is impossible to have been born black in apartheid South Africa and not to have experienced racism. I was born in 1959 during the tenure of the then prime minister HF Verwoerd, known as the architect of apartheid and an unashamed advocate of institutionalised racism. I grew up in Bophuthatswana and experienced first-hand the results of racial segregation. Due to apartheid, my parents had to travel to Johannesburg to find work, resulting in me living with my sisters in isolated Hammanskraal. Blacks were paid paltry wages and my widowed mother was unable to maintain a family on her salary of R29 a month. My mother stole supplies from her employer, and my sisters and I stole firewood and water from neighbouring white farmers.And we experienced being chased off these farms by gun-wielding farmers. These demeaning acts were prompted by pure poverty, which was itself occasioned by apartheid.A typical day in my life might have included being told how a farmer had taught his son to shoot by using labourers in the fields for target practice, an incident in which my great-grandfather was shot.Or waiting for my mother to come home in the middle of the night and return to work before dawn, so that her employer would not know she had left her backyard room during the night to take food to her children. Experiences such as these engendered a deep suspicion and hatred of white people.story_article_left1This hatred was inflamed during my studies at the University of the North. After witnessing racial manipulation and brutality, I decided to abandon my studies and tried to illegally leave the country to join freedom fighters in other parts of our continent. Regrettably, I did not have the connections to do this.At that stage in my life, I was depressed and a very angry black youth. What depressed me the most was the thought of having to work for whites. During my teens I opted to gamble and play dice games in the township rather than work as a weekend gardener for a white man. But eventually reality sank in, and I was forced to overcome my disdain for whites.I did work for whites, and Indians, and I did experience racism. But these interactions taught me a valuable lesson. I could let that racism define the trajectory of my life, or I could avoid racial confrontation and give of my best. It was a successful strategy and I eventually saved enough money to buy myself a car so that I could become an independent operator.Although I had realised that racism existed at all levels, I also met people who weren't racist, who judged me on my character instead of the colour of my skin. It was a philosophy that appealed to me.However, I never wanted to be an employee, being told what to do by an employer, and job reservation meant that certain jobs were reserved for whites only. I was determined to be my own boss so that I could be in control of my dignity and my destiny.In 1982, apartheid meant that I should not be in business as a black South African. The inferior education I had received from the Department of Bantu Education barely equipped me to be a clerk, never mind a businessman.Living in an economically depressed and isolated homeland could hardly be considered a nurturing environment for black entrepreneurship because there was little or no access to resources. Race-based labour controls, limitations on the movement of blacks and colour barriers within companies added to the list of how apartheid disempowered black people.However, I refused to be derailed from my dream of economic freedom and at the age of 24 I started my own cosmetics company, Black Like Me, and invited a white fellow-South African to join the business as an equal partner. We both had skills that the business needed; this was a vital partnership.full_story_image_hleft1The miracle of the 1994 election and Nelson Mandela's leadership of the country had all South Africans ready to embrace the concept of a rainbow nation, and our apparent harmony won the approval and admiration of the international community. Our constitution was hailed as among the most progressive in the world and Cyril Ramaphosa travelled the globe, sharing our country's miracle. They were indeed times to be proud and to bask in the glow of that Rainbow Nation.Sadly, 21 years down the line, we should be a mature democracy. Instead, the glow of the rainbow is beginning to diminish and Mandela's great legacy is being dismantled by his own political party, the ANC. Our current government is intensifying its racial policies that are going to drag us back into the dark days of polarisation and disrepute.Undoubtedly, at the dawn of our democracy, the ANC government was compelled to redress injustices of the past. And the government at that time took its role very seriously, taking considerable time and employing wise minds to implement policies that would create an equal society and improve the lives of the previously disadvantaged.Subsequent to 1994, employment legislation was developed to outlaw unfair racial discrimination and to redress past imbalances. Employment policies undoubtedly had to be revised, and the first step was the repeal of the Labour Relations Act of 1956, which was replaced by laws eliminating job reservation.The notion of empowering previously disadvantaged blacks is a noble ideal; noble, but racist.story_article_left2It was unacceptable to have job reservation during apartheid and it is unacceptable now. Affirmative action is not empowering, it is limiting, degrading, and offensive to anyone who wants to participate in the economy but cannot, simply because they are not black.Affirmative action is discriminatory not only against a minority, it also excludes the vast majority of black South Africans from its purported benefits, since BEE has created an economic network of privileged manipulators and cronies.Additionally, affirmative action has created a skills crisis as many qualified and economically active whites, and sometimes blacks, left the country because of being excluded. Affirmative action serves a small, politically connected black elite; it has seen the rise of extensive corruption, but has left millions of black people, in particular the youth, unemployed and in dire poverty.Affirmative action creates an illusion of job creation and racial integration that doesn't exist. Instead, affirmative action has divided South African society, highlighting the divide between the white haves and the black have-nots.Affirmative action has enhanced the racist perceptions of blacks and whites. Poor blacks are under the illusion that the whites are still the only beneficiaries of business. Whites feel that the tables have been turned and that they are excluded from economic activity based on race.The cost of affirmative action to the poor has been substantial in that it has diverted money from education and infrastructure projects and instead created bloated agencies and departments that don't contribute to the economy in any meaningful way.Affirmative action supports racism's bedfellow, tribalism, which lets favoured politically connected businessmen benefit from government tenders and contracts. It promotes and creates an impression that to succeed, you must first be politically connected.Political patronage becomes a vehicle to get closer to state resources. Any policy that supports this racial divisiveness must be abandoned.story_article_right3South Africa must be governed according to the constitution, which states that citizens should not be unfairly discriminated against, either directly or indirectly, on such grounds as race, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion or language.If South Africa's citizens are to flourish and the country is to develop into a stable, strong economic nation, then all forms of discrimination must be abandoned. The government must remove all race- based legislation from labour and commerce.Employment in South Africa is now being shaped by the legislated exclusion of racial minorities. It is contradictory to claim that we are aiming for a nonracial society and then implement discrimination. Any form of racism, including affirmative action, should be scrapped from the statute books to uphold the principle of non-discrimination in our constitution.My solution is job creation through a booming capitalist economy where investors feel safe and employers and employees are able to contract without state intervention. Allow all South Africans to exploit their talents without these discriminatory practices.If South Africa is to avoid the tribalism, dictatorship, genocide, poverty and demagoguery that plague other African countries, we must eradicate every form of racism. And we must do it now.Mashaba is the founder of Black Like Me. This is an edited version of a speech given to the UN committee on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination..