摘要：T her e is a need to continua lly test the impulse of the South African society in view of some new ideas tha t ar e beginning to e me rge tha t ca ll for flexibility in the continued implementation of the a ffir mative action policy (AA) in order to help South Africa build a skills base. The objectives of this paper include the review of litera ture and condu cting empiric al re sea rch in order to asse ss the impac t of A A policy in relation to skills shor ta ges in Sou th Africa ; determine whether AA c ontributes to tu rnover of pr ofessiona ls in the c ountry; a nd whether AA should be discontinued or not. The study adopted survey research method using quantitative resea rch design. Convenience sampling was used in the selection of participating orga nisations. Respondents consist of 160 Tra ining a nd D evelopment Managers in ea ch of the participa ting organisations cutting a cross both the public and private sectors. T he research results showed tha t majority of the respondents did not believe that A A is responsible for skills lost in their orga nisations. Similarly, most of the re sponde nts agre ed tha t A A should not be scra pped. Implementation of AA should be flexible enough to a ccommodate highly skilled professiona ls from the previously advanta ged group in or der to a llevia te skills shorta ges.
关键词：Employment Equity. Affirma tive Action. Skills Shortages. Designated G roup. Previously Advanta ged ; Group. South Africa
