Cape Town -
Not white enough before 1994 and not black enough after, was the message delivered by a group of angry coloured protesters in front of Cape Town’s Labour Court at lunch time on Monday.
Inside the building, Judge Hilary Rabkin-Naicker presided over the resumption of an affirmative action case, brought by trade union Solidarity against the Western Cape’s correctional services department.
Outside, in Loop Street, a group of about 30 protesters called loudly for people to be employed on the basis of merit, not colour.
They held up posters with the messages “Employment Equity is Racism”, “Staan Saam Bruin Mense” (Stand together, brown people), and “Job Reservation is Apartheid”.
Many of the protesters wore orange, sleeveless safety vests of the type worn by construction workers. Written on the front were the words “Post 94, Not Black Enough”, and on the back, “Pre 94, Not White Enough”.
Solidarity is representing Linda-Jean Fortuin, Christopher February, André Jonkers, Geo-nita Baartman, Pieter Davids, Derick Wehr, Jan Kotze, Desiree Merkeur, Deidre Jordaan and Teresa Abrahams – nine of the department’s employees and one job applicant. They say they have been unfairly discriminated against when applying for promotions because they are coloured.
The department has argued that it takes national and not provincial demographics into account regarding jobs and that they applied this in accordance with the law.
The matter resumed on Monday after a two-month postponement.
In the interim both parties were expected to reach an agreement on the matter.
Martin Brassey SC, for Solidarity, told the court that attempts to reach an agreement “proved unfruitful”.
The court heard that two posts advertised and applied for by two female employees had been scrapped.
In her testimony on Monday, Abrahams, said she was “strongly recommended” for a post in the department’s Breede River management area.
But after an interview for the job in 2011, she was convinced she was not selected “purely because of my colour”.
Marumo Moerane SC, for the department, told her that she was not appointed because the post had been abolished.
Cape Argus
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