DCS ruling gives direction to Mining Charter - Solidarity
18 July 2016
Trade union Solidarity said today that Friday’s Constitutional Court judgment on employees of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) would give direction to the Mining Charter. Last week, during a session at the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) on the Mining Charter, Solidarity argued that the proposed charter, which refers to racial quotas and sets the national racial demographics as guideline for appointments, was contrary to the Employment Equity Act (EEA). However, Solidarity’s argument made no impression on the DMR.
“After the Constitutional Court ruling on Friday the Mining Charter will now indeed have to be amended in accordance with the ruling,” Solidarity General Secretary Gideon du Plessis said.
According to Du Plessis, the DMR can learn from the DCS ruling and some aspects in the Mining Charter which are inconsistent with the EEA, too, would have to be amended. “The provision in the draft charter that 2% of a company’s jobs must be filled by black disabled workers, notwithstanding the fact that the EEA lays down no race directive in this regard, is a case in point. Moreover, the charter proposes a fixed requirement (26%) in respect of black ownership without any sunset clause. Thus, the draft charter is in contravention of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), a convention South Africa is a signatory to, and which denounces any form of racial discrimination which is permanent in nature,” Du Plessis said.
“The DMR should therefore learn from the DCS’s foolhardiness. The rule of law applies and Solidarity will not accept any affirmative action policy or charter that is violating legislation or the South African Constitution, and will challenge it all the way to the country’s highest courts – a process which, from a cost and legal validity perspective, is totally unnecessary,” Du Plessis cautioned.
Issued by Gideon du Plessis, General Secretary, Solidarity, 18 July 2016
