Significant blow against affirmative action

According to Dirk Hermann, Deputy General Secretary of Solidarity, ‘the DCS must therefore revise its affirmative action processes. The ruling will not only affect the DCS, but also the rest of the public service.’
Although this is a significant blow against the government’s tainted race policies, Solidarity is now taking the fight to the government at all levels saying that it would appeal against certain aspects of the judgment. ‘Certain constitutional issues were not dealt with by the judge. We can’t expect the Labour Court to pass judgment on important constitutional matters and therefore we still want to go to the Constitutional Court. This victory is significant, but it’s not the end of the road,’ said Hermann.
The judge, among other things, ruled that Peter Davids, the only white applicant in the case, was not included in the judgment, as white men are not part of the designated group. ‘The judge based this decision on the Labour Appeal Court’s ruling in the Renate Barnard case. The Barnard case is due to be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal on 6 November. In the meantime Solidarity will make arrangements to appeal against certain aspects of this latest ruling.