Cape Town - The African National Congress (ANC) has appealed to the Department of Labour to make provincial demographics the cornerstone of government employment policies in the Western Cape.
Making the appeal, ANC Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs said his office has been overwhelmed with complaints from so-called coloured people, who form the biggest group in the Cape, that they were being sidelined when applying for State jobs.
“From these complaints and also anecdotal evidence it’s clear that some government departments are ignoring provincial demographics and using national demographics as the foundation of their employment policies in the Western Cape,” Jacobs said in a statement.
“This is an incorrect interpretation of affirmative action, which has caused deep anger, hurt, hostility to our new democratic dispensation and the alienation of a community known as the coloured community.
“Coloureds are Africans and qualify for affirmative action. They should not suffer discrimination. Because they’re the majority group in the province they should be the first beneficiaries of available jobs at government departments and institutions. We call on the department of labour to stop any discrimination against coloured people at government departments in the province,” Jacobs said.
He said dissatisfaction reached a boiling point in Mitchells Plain earlier in January when coloureds gathered at the local department of labour offices to protest that they were being overlooked for jobs that went to Africans.
“We have spoken to the department of labour about this and have warned them that perceptions like this lead to social unrest. We don’t want this. We’re building a united nation that is entering a new dawn together.”