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Folks

I stand corrected (no regret vs apology word mincing here) and let me expand my statement earlier made.

I should have stated that many of the South Africans or many of the Australians etc. Generalisation was inappropriate and sorry for that oversight.

Having said that, I do agree that I have met many South Africans who are extremely friendly to Australians and vice versa. We need to take a deep note on the definition of 'Australians' and 'South Africans'. I have noticed many people originated from SA love to call themselves as Africanas than SA. But I still struggle to see that we in Australia call ourselves as Australians and then divide to call Italians, Indians, English, Greek etc. Fortunately no matter how you look like, in Canada and USA I found people are very proud to call themselves as Americans and Canadians (to some less extent however and unless you live in British Properties in Vancouver )

Until I went to work in a remote large gold mining project in Western Australia , I always used to share the same view what both of you stated.

In that mine - I saw how bitterly some of my colleagues hated some of very respected and knowledgable colleagues have just because of their nationalities. One of very knowledgable colleague left a large mining project (traded in ASX so do not want to name) just because he was cornered by his fellow colleagues. I asked those colleagues and the reply came "We do not want any SA" here. As far as I was concerned I found the SA colleague was honest and extremely knowledgable.

More I grew older and penetrated deeper into the socieity I learnt more.

Working for some of the large EPCM companies in Perth I noticed the same in reverse direction. One of my previous superiors in an EPCM company gradually replaced many good Australians by South Africans (Africanas) because he felt comfort zone. Since he took over 8 out of 10 new recruits happened to be people of SA.

May be a sheer coincidence and not a racism.

Having said that, I also noticed that generally the Underground Miners from SA have much better skills compared to their counterparts in Australia. It is more so because of they have had more opportunities to develop mines in SA than we in Australia have in past 100 years or so. That also explains some reasons of perceived racism - from FEAR of losing power and position.

To conclude I still remember one of my ex colleagues' famous statement who was also the HR Manager of the mining contractor in Perth. He used to call himself as the most racist. It was because as per him, he hated equally both black or white. I have not found such an honest statement .

<blockquote data-quote="Miner" data-source="post: 686706" data-attributes="member: 8351">FolksI stand corrected (no regret vs apology word mincing here) and let me expand my statement earlier made.I should have stated that many of the South Africans or many of the Australians etc. Generalisation was inappropriate and sorry for that oversight.&nbsp;Having said that, I do agree that I have met many South Africans who are extremely friendly to Australians and vice versa. We need to take a deep note on the definition of &#039;Australians&#039; and &#039;South Africans&#039;. I have noticed many people originated from SA love to call themselves as Africanas than SA. But I still struggle to see that we in Australia call ourselves as Australians and then divide to call Italians, Indians, English, Greek etc. Fortunately no matter how you look like, in Canada and USA I found people are very proud to call themselves as Americans and Canadians (to some less extent however and unless you live in British Properties in Vancouver <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big Grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" />)Until I went to work in a remote large gold mining project in Western Australia , I always used to share the same view what both of you stated. In that mine&nbsp; - I saw how bitterly&nbsp; some of my colleagues hated some of very respected and knowledgable colleagues have just because of their nationalities.&nbsp; One of very knowledgable colleague left a large mining project (traded in ASX so do not want to name) just because he was cornered by his fellow colleagues. I asked those colleagues and the reply came &quot;We do not want any SA&quot; here. As far as I was concerned I found the SA colleague was honest and extremely knowledgable. &nbsp;More I grew older and penetrated deeper into the socieity I learnt more. Working for some of the large EPCM companies in Perth I noticed the same in reverse direction. One of my previous superiors in an EPCM company gradually replaced many good Australians by South Africans (Africanas) because he felt comfort zone. Since he took over 8 out of 10 new recruits happened to be people of SA. May be a sheer coincidence and not a racism.Having said that, I also noticed that generally the Underground Miners from SA have much better skills compared to their counterparts in Australia. It is more so because of they have had more opportunities to develop mines in SA than we in Australia have in past 100 years or so. That also explains some reasons of perceived racism - from FEAR of losing power and position. To conclude I still remember one of my ex colleagues&#039; famous statement&nbsp; who was also the HR Manager of the mining contractor in Perth. He used to call&nbsp; himself as the most racist. It was because as per him, he hated equally both&nbsp; black or white. I have not found such an honest statement <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big Grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" />.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Miner, post: 686706, member: 8351"] Folks I stand corrected (no regret vs apology word mincing here) and let me expand my statement earlier made. I should have stated that many of the South Africans or many of the Australians etc. Generalisation was inappropriate and sorry for that oversight. Having said that, I do agree that I have met many South Africans who are extremely friendly to Australians and vice versa. We need to take a deep note on the definition of 'Australians' and 'South Africans'. I have noticed many people originated from SA love to call themselves as Africanas than SA. But I still struggle to see that we in Australia call ourselves as Australians and then divide to call Italians, Indians, English, Greek etc. Fortunately no matter how you look like, in Canada and USA I found people are very proud to call themselves as Americans and Canadians (to some less extent however and unless you live in British Properties in Vancouver :D) Until I went to work in a remote large gold mining project in Western Australia , I always used to share the same view what both of you stated. In that mine - I saw how bitterly some of my colleagues hated some of very respected and knowledgable colleagues have just because of their nationalities. One of very knowledgable colleague left a large mining project (traded in ASX so do not want to name) just because he was cornered by his fellow colleagues. I asked those colleagues and the reply came "We do not want any SA" here. As far as I was concerned I found the SA colleague was honest and extremely knowledgable. More I grew older and penetrated deeper into the socieity I learnt more. Working for some of the large EPCM companies in Perth I noticed the same in reverse direction. One of my previous superiors in an EPCM company gradually replaced many good Australians by South Africans (Africanas) because he felt comfort zone. Since he took over 8 out of 10 new recruits happened to be people of SA. May be a sheer coincidence and not a racism. Having said that, I also noticed that generally the Underground Miners from SA have much better skills compared to their counterparts in Australia. It is more so because of they have had more opportunities to develop mines in SA than we in Australia have in past 100 years or so. That also explains some reasons of perceived racism - from FEAR of losing power and position. To conclude I still remember one of my ex colleagues' famous statement who was also the HR Manager of the mining contractor in Perth. He used to call himself as the most racist. It was because as per him, he hated equally both black or white. I have not found such an honest statement :D. [/QUOTE]

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