Reverse racism not the way to go - Lekota

Black economic empowerment and affirmative action should not result in reverse discrimination harking back to apartheid policies, Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota believes.

Addressing members of the South African Business Club in London on Thursday, he said: "We cannot say we are fighting for a non-racial society and then practise discrimination."

Lekota went out of his way to address the mostly white audience's concerns around affirmative action policies, as well as assuring them that the guarantee of property rights would remain in place and that similar land policies to those applied in Zimbabwe were not seen as an answer for SA.

"We will never solve the problem by taking from one family and giving to three other families," said Lekota.

He emphasised that education and training were key to economic empowerment and encouraged South Africans abroad to return home and help create wealth.

He said people should be appointed on the basis of their qualifications and not only their race.

He said his own children ask him: "Why should we be privileged over John and Charlie who studied with us under the same conditions of freedom?"

"I cannot answer them."