Durban - THE EFF protests at Clicks stores nationally have been called off and the retailer has promised to donate 50000 sanitary pads, 50000 masks and sanitisers to rural and informal settlements identified by the party.
The EFF issued separate joint statements with Clicks and Unilever, which owns the TRESemmé brand, after meetings yesterday.
The party held protests at the stores over a TRESemmé hair-care advert on the Clicks website that negatively portrayed natural black hair.
In the joint statements, both companies expressed remorse to all South Africans, and black women in particular, for the images used in the campaign.
The retailer said it would also award a scholarship to five students to pursue pharmaceutical qualifications in the 2021 academic year. It said it would also stick with its decision to withdraw all TRESemmé products from its stores and replace them with locally produced products.
In its own statement last night, Clicks committed to increase spending on Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) and support for local beauty, hair-care brands and other products.
The undertaking was made by Clicks Group chief executive Vikesh Ramsunder at a meeting with the Minister of Small Business Development, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, and a senior delegation from her department.
“I am humbled and encouraged by our interaction with the honourable Minister as I believe that we can jointly find a constructive solution to this regrettable incident,” said Ramsunder, who reiterated the Clicks Group’s apology to the minister, noting that the material was “insensitive” and left him devastated.
Clicks said it would use the shelf space created by the removal of TRESemmé to support more local brands.
Clicks’s preferential procurement spend currently stands at 50.2%, and last year spending on suppliers stood at R26.7billion. It also committed to involving their supplier base to mentor SMMEs across the company’s value chain.
Ntshavheni noted that this preferential procurement spend included spending on large, established but not fully empowered companies, and did not add to building an inclusive economy.
The minister added that her department would help Clicks focus on SMMEs that were owned by black people, women, the youth and people with disabilities. She said she wanted the Clicks Group to contribute to the government’s localisation drive by placing more South African products on its shelves.
Ntshavheni committed her department and agencies to helping SMMEs with the potential to supply the Clicks Group, with compliance to product quality, safety standards and regulatory requirements.
The Department of Small Business Development and Clicks Group have put in place a working team to finalise the implementation plan.
Unilever, in a statement, said that as a demonstration of remorse, it would withdraw all TRESemmé South Africa products from all retail stores for a period of 10 days.
However, it is not clear which stores would retain the products after retailers including Dis-Chem, Shoprite, Makro, Pick * Pay and Woolworths confirmed they had also removed TRESemmé products from their stores.
The EFF said Unilever would not budge on one of their demands when they had asked it to publish the names of the people responsible for the advert, and claimed that the director involved in the campaign had since left the company and the country.
“Unilever has made a commitment that following its internal investigations, the necessary disciplinary action will be taken against those remaining in the company in line with its policy,” said EFF spokesperson Vuyani Pambo.
Unilever also agreed to donate a minimum of 10000 sanitary pads and sanitisers to informal settlements identified by the EFF.
The EFF said they would work with law-enforcement agencies to bring “agent provocateurs” responsible for vandalising Clicks stores to book.
At least seven stores were damaged during protest action that took place at Clicks stores across the country.
In a virtual Cabinet meeting yesterday, the Cabinet said the advert, which justifiably triggered widespread public outrage, was profoundly offensive and racist.
Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said the Cabinet welcomed the immediate corrective action taken by Clicks.
“Black hair has been the subject of intense politicisation and a source of unjust discrimination in our recent history,” said Williams.
The Cabinet called on the advertising agencies of Clicks and other stores to also adopt tangible programmes that promoted and protected human rights, and to raise awareness about racism, inequality and discrimination.
The Mercury