This week an independent inquiry cleared Eskom boss Andre de Ruyter of racism allegations made against him.
Solly Tshitangano, Eskom’s then head of procurement, had alleged in a letter to the power utility's board and President Cyril Ramaphosa that De Ruyter favoured white appointees and treated white-owned companies differently to black-owned businesses.
Tshitangano had himself been accused of awarding R8bn in contracts to Econ Oil, after Eskom became aware of serious allegations of wrongdoing by the company.
He was subsequently dismissed last week from Eskom after being found guilty of misconduct in a disciplinary process.
In his findings in the De Ruyter matter, advocate Ishmael Semenya said having considered all the evidence presented, he could find no substantiation for the allegation that De Ruyter had conducted himself in any manner that amounted to racism.
The case has again brought into sharp focus the issue of race in corporate SA.
For many the finding in favour of De Ruyter cemented the belief that racism was used in this case as part of an arsenal of tricks employed to try run him out of Eskom to derail the work of cleaning up the organisation.
This narrative is not without merit when considering that those who accused De Ruyter of wrongdoing are fighting off serious allegations of misconduct or corruption.
Yet, be that as it may, we must caution against the use of this case to invalidate legitimate racism experiences of black professionals in corporate SA generally.
Racism has real consequences, both as far as human dignity and personal and national development are concerned.
The lack of transformation often bemoaned in boardrooms across the country cannot be removed from a culture of deliberate discrimination on the basis of identity.
Indeed, there are people who weaponise racism as a way to avoid accountability.
Unfortunately, this undermines the fight against real prejudices, which define power dynamics in many working spaces.
But we must never be tempted to erase the prevalence of racism in corporate SA, based on those who make such claims without substance and for sinister motives.
We must build a culture that holds accountable both those who weaponise race for nefarious ends as well as those who are found to be racist.
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