It’s about time the government actually listened to the people it claims to represent. A new survey out by the Institute of Race Relations has some rather depressing news for the elites, such as our billionaire deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, who is determined to intensify black economic empowerment (BEE), even though the vast majority of South Africans now recognise these policies favour the politically connected rather than the poor.

The witless Penny Sparrow has ignited a racial furore over her offensive remarks about blacks on SA's breaches, and rightly so. But most whites do not think like her. Yet SA does have a race problem, and its source is a government intent on using racial engineering to benefit a few.

Temba A. Nolutshungu of the Free Market Foundation argues that affirmative action is one of the biggest frauds perpetrated against South Africans in the post-apartheid era. In this article, he looks at how affirmative action has retarded the progress of the supposed beneficiaries in the US, Malaysia and elsewhere.

A total of 400,000 white expat South Africans have returned to the country of their birth since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. And despite affirmative action quotas that give preferences to black South Africans, they seem to have little trouble getting jobs.

The ANC's commitment to race-based policies is relentless, regardless of economic consequences. Foreign direct investment (FDI) tells the story. SA companies are investing abroad at ever increasing rates while foreigners are less than enthusiastic about SA's prospects, no matter what government tells us.

New BEE codes issued by the Department of Trade and Industry are so onerous that many companies will ignore them. They will use the Constitution as their moral and legislative compass, according to Loane Sharp of the Free Market Foundation.

Trade union Solidarity is bringing an urgent interdict application against Telkom to halt what is says is a race-based retrenchment drive that will prejudice minorities working for the company. Telkom has announced a retrenchment drive in an effort to save R5 billion in costs over five years.

As we approach 20 years of ANC rule, expect to hear eulogies on how much better off the country is. But the real success of the ANC has been its ability to sell the country on advancing its racial agenda.

The Labour Court has come out swinging on behalf of trade union Solidarity, which last year won a case against the Department of Corrections Services for overlooking 10 employees of the wrong colour. It filled the positions based on national instead of the regional demographics of the Western Cape.

Trade union Solidarity argues that President Zuma's efforts to ramrod through amendments to the Employment Equity Act is an effort to override recent court decisions that challenge the government's application of national racial quotas.