CONSTITUTIONAL COURT JUDGEMENT ON EEA

The Higher Education Transformation Network (HETN), hereby welcomes the recent judgment handed down by the Constitutional Court in South African Police Service v Solidarity obo Barnard [2014] ZACC 23 with regards to the implementation of employment equity legislation in the workplace.

The Network welcomes the judgment due to the legal precedent and clarity that the judgment has provided with regards to the interpretation and application of Section 9 of the Constitution.

This judgment serves as a lesson and Achilles heel to rightwing forces such as Solidaritiet and Afriforum, who have for years been abusing the SA courts system and subverting the implementation of employment equity legislation by employers for their own narrow racist selfish ends which do not advance equity and social justice.

As an alumni association, we agree with the Court judgment that those who are to benefit from affirmative action, must indeed be able to do the work, "They must be suitably qualified people in order not to sacrifice efficiency and competence at the altar of remedial employment." Restorative justice and remedial measures go to the heart of achievement of equality in South Africa as required by the Constitution.

We welcome the Constitutional Court's reaffirmation of the supremacy of the transformational objective of the Constitution and the application of restitutional measures by employers in the workplace to achieve equity.

We warn higher education institutions that that the Network will swiftly initiate litigation against publicly funded higher education institutions that continue to revise their employment equity targets and fail to comply with the Employment Equity legislation.

Statement issued by the Higher Education Transformation Network, September 5 2014

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