Official faces quick-fire questioning
WHEN the Department of Correctional Services had two or more suitable job candidates, it sometimes looked at “who was the most disadvantaged” in making a decision, according to a departmental director.
The department’s national employment equity director Ayanda Bonani testifed before the Cape Town Labour Court on Friday in the legal fight over its employment equity plan.
The case has been brought by 10 parties – nine Correc- tional Services employees – and trade union Solidarity.
They claim they were discriminated against in efforts to get promotions. A main contention is that the equity targets in the plan are in line with national, and not regional, demographics.
On Friday, advocate Martin Brassey, SC, acting for Solidarity and the workers, quizzed Bonani – who was in charge of the team that drafted the employment equity plan – over “relative disadvantage” being a tie breaker where there were two candidates who both met requirements of the plan.
After she mentioned that disabled people “get preference” over others, Brassey asked her whether, in the instance where a disabled white man was competing against an able-bodied coloured woman, the white man would get the job.
“Dealing with equity issues is not only about numbers,” Bonani replied. “(If there are) those issues, you really have to think hard – who was the most disadvantaged.”
Brassey further questioned her about white and Indian people being given preference at certain job levels, saying: “What kind of affirmative action programme is it that gives preference to white people?”
He put it to her that the purpose of the plan was to “attain and preserve demographic representivity at each level” of the department.
Bonani denied this, adding that they needed to ensure equitable representation at each level.
She was further cross-examined over comments former government spokesman Jimmy Manyi made more than two years ago when, on speaking about the Employment Equity Act, he said coloureds were in “over-supply” in the Western Cape and that they should look to other parts of the country where a supply was needed.
“Is that an accurate reflection of the departmental plan?” asked Brassey. Bonani denied this was so. When an advocate acting for the department, Marumo Moerane, SC, examined her, Bonani said that in certain cases – when the department needed to fill critical positions or jobs that involved scarce skills – the department was “not really strict” about employment equity and a request for deviation from the plan would be sent to the national commissioner for consideration.
She also testified that in setting equity targets, they had chosen to use figures representing the country’s total population rather than workforce statistics.
They had found these total population figures to be more reliable, she said, because it did not marginalise people who were not able to look for work.
The case is expected to continue today.