Affirmative
action case goes to ConCourt
Jan 28
2014 20:12
Johannesburg - Trade union Solidarity has filed
papers with the Constitutional Court opposing an SA Police Service (SAPS)
application for leave to appeal against a ruling on affirmative action.
The union said on Tuesday that the ruling by the
Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) had been in favour of Lt-Col Renate Barnard and
the union.
The papers were filed on Monday, and the matter
would be heard on March 20, said Solidarity spokesperson Dirk Groenewald.
He said there was no basis in the police's
application that would result in the Constitutional Court reaching a different
finding than the ruling by the SCA.
"The application is a cynical move to deprive
Barnard of the justice she is entitled to after her eight-year court
battle."
Earlier this month, Lt-Gen Solomon Makgale
confirmed that the police were applying for leave to appeal to the
Constitutional Court.
The SCA held in November that the SAPS had clearly
discriminated against Barnard on the basis of race.
The SCA upheld an appeal against a decision of the
Labour Appeal Court that overturned a decision of the Labour Court.
The Labour Court held that Barnard was unfairly
discriminated against when she was not appointed to the promotion position of
superintendent within a specialised unit of the SAPS, despite being the best
candidate for the post.
Barnard had twice applied unsuccessfully for
promotion to the position of superintendent within the then National Evaluation
Services, which deals with complaints by the public and by public officials
concerning the broad spectrum of police services.
Despite recommendations by an interviewing panel
and her divisional commissioner, the national commissioner did not appoint her
to the position, on the basis that racial representivity at the level of
superintendent would be negatively affected.
Solidarity said at the time that it was shocked by
the SAPS's decision to defend its unlawful race practices all the way to the
Constitutional Court.
"We get the impression that the SAPS believes
that affirmative action annuls the constitutional rights to equality and
dignity of white employees like Barnard," Solidarity executive officer
Dirk Hermann said in a statement at the time.
Groenewald said on Tuesday that the police's
affirmative action plan and its implementation was racist and sexist.
He said the then national commissioner Jackie
Selebi had denied Barnard's promotion solely because it would have distorted
the racial quotas on her post level.
"The [SCA] said in its ruling that Barnard would have been promoted
if it had not been for [Selebi's] wrongful conduct," Groenewald said.
