Eskom defends 'black ruling'
Cape Town - Eskom will not exclude the other designated groups, apart from black people, from the company's affirmative action process, in spite of a decision by the Cape arbitration court and statements made by the trade union Solidarity.
In an Eskom statement on Tuesday via J Ramages Attorneys to Die Burger, sister publication of Fin24, the company said the decision of the Cape arbitration court in the case between the coloured engineer Leon Christiaans and Eskom had been taken out of context.
The statement said Solidarity's claim that Eskom would henceforth give black people preference over the other designated groups was a distortion of the court's decision.
"Solidarity's representation of the case was misleading from the outset. The trade union said Eskom offered the position of project engineer to Christiaans. The court rejected this claim.
"Solidarity furthermore argued that the appointment of a black engineer was unfair discrimination. The arbitration court rejected this claim too."
Eskom said the trade union suppressed the true facts. "The court's decision was that the black engineer was better trained than Christiaans and also had better leadership and supervisory skills than Christiaans.
"In addition, black people at Eskom in the Western Cape are in the minority compared with coloured people. No black people are employed in the department concerned."
Eskom said the black engineer's appointment was in line with employment equity practice and Eskom's policy on employment equity.
"The law requires that designated groups must be equally represented. Eskom will continue to practise its policy on employment equity."
Solidarity spokesperson Dirk Hermann said Christiaans's case would probably be referred for review to test certain constitutional principles of the judgment.
"Contrary to what Eskom argues, Christiaans is the better candidate for the position.
"He has more experience, has been better trained and been registered for many years with the Engineering Council. The black engineer has only recently been registered for the first time with the council," he said.
Hermann said Christiaans had also fared better in the interview than the black engineer. But the interview panel did decide that the black engineer had better supervisory skills.
"Solidarity will refer the case for review because the arbitration court's decision benefits black people as a collective group and did not assess the individual in the case,"' Hermann said.
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