The court will, among others, give a ruling on the constitutionality of the DCS’s current Employment Equity Plan. In November last year, Solidarity argued in the Constitutional Court that this plan, which imposes the national race demographics as sole criterion for promotions and appointments, amounts to a quota system, which is inconsistent with the provisions of the Employment Equity Act.
“Although, earlier, the Labour Court and the Labour Appeal Court both found that Employment Equity Plans should also take into account the race demographics of a specific region when making appointments and promotions, those courts failed to revoke the DCS’s Employment Equity Plan which does precisely the opposite. We have, therefore, approached the Constitutional Court to nip the department’s unfair implementation of affirmative action in the bud,” Van der Bijl said.
The Court will also decide whether individual legal cost orders should be awarded to the ten DCS employees represented by Solidarity in the court case. This follows after the Labour Appeal Court indicated in April last year that there was no clear evidence that the members would have been appointed in these positions if the DCS also used the regional racial demography as guideline. Solidarity disputed this part of the ruling in the Constitutional Court as well.
Solidarity acts on behalf of ten employees of the DCS who all, at some stage, have been overlooked for promotion due to the colour of their skin. They include Andre Jonkers, Christo February, Deidre Jordaan, Deric Wehr, Desiree Merkeur, Geo-nita Baartman, Jan Kotze, Linda-Jean Fortuin, Pieter Davids and Theresa Abrahams.
