Racism still prevalent in corporate sector

A PUBLIC hearing into racism and discrimination by the Office of the Ombudsman has unearthed that while racism does not define Namibians' social interactions, corporate structures, especially in the financial services sector, are racially telling.

Namibia's equity commissioner, Vilbard Usiku, revealed at the public hearing on 'Racism, Racial Discrimination, Tribalism and Discrimination in General' that the latest affirmative action (AA) report indicated that achieving a racial balance in employment has been slow, especially at the helm of most large companies, despite the AA laws in place. Usiku singled out commercial banks and insurance companies, saying that he has observed what he termed the “Irish coffee structure” in the sector. The “Irish coffee structure” denotes a workplace that is predominantly black at the bottom, brown in the middle and white at the top. “The structures there remain unacceptably skewed in favour of white employees,” he stated.