Radebe wants court to dismiss racial discrimination case against him

Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe’s legal team wants the Equality Court, sitting at the Pretoria High Court, to strike a case of racial discrimination against him off the court roll.

The case was lodged against Radebe by trade union Solidarity in 2011 after he refused to promote magistrate Martin Kroukamp to a senior magisterial post at Alberton Magistrates’ Court when he was the minister of justice and correctional services at the time.

Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza SC, for Radebe, launched an application for absolution from the instance, which means Solidarity failed to make a prima facie case against him, News24 reports.

Solidarity argued Kroukamp was overlooked for a promotion by the minister unfairly, saying it was discrimination based on his gender and race.

According to the report, Kroukamp has been acting as a senior magistrate since 2009. He applied for the position after the magistrates’ commission advertised the position in 2009.

In 2010, he was shortlisted and interviewed along with three other applicants. In 2011, the commission recommended that Kroukamp was the only suitable candidate for senior magistrate. However, Radebe ignored the commission’s recommendation.

Radebe’s reasons for ignoring the recommendation were apparently because Kroukamp’s promotion would not advance transformation in the judiciary, and he advised that the commission re-advertise the post to widen the pool of applicants.

In 2014, the minister’s successor, Michael Masutha, told the Equality Court he would review the decision to not promote Kroukamp as a senior magistrate. But Solidarity said, following Masutha’s review and the re-advertising of 22 other senior magistrates’ posts, Kroukamp was still not appointed.

The absolution from the instance application is expected to be argued on Wednesday.

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