WATCH: White Sasol employees take to the streets over scheme exclusion

Trade Union Solidarity has taken to the streets of Secunda in protesting a Sasol scheme named Khanyisa, which according to the union excludes white employees.

Thousands of protesters planned to bring the Secunda Sasol plant to a standstill on Thursday after they handed over a memorandum of demands to the plant on Wednesday.

The Sasol employees are challenging Sasol against the scheme offered exclusively to black employees, which according to Solidarity is in direct violation of the mining charter and general mining practice.

The union wants racial divisions within Sasol to stop and displayed banners during their Thursday protest saying: “Sasol, where your worth is based on race.”

Thousands of marchers marched in opposition to the Khanyisa scheme.

According to Solidarity, Sasol announced Khanyisa, in terms of which its black employees would get shares worth R500,000, while explicitly stating that white employees and foreign nationals would be excluded from obtaining shares.

Khanyisa succeeds the previous Inzalo scheme, which was a financial failure, but included white employees. Hermann said the new scheme was therefore a case study for the exclusion white people are experiencing in general.

The ANC on Monday was concerned at the strike intent by Solidarity and said the strike had racist overtones.

ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said Sasol has historically always had schemes that benefited white employees to the exclusion of their black counterparts.

“One of the fundamental tenets of our democracy is enabling economic participation by black people as part of addressing historical inequalities,” Mabe said.

He said the objective to achieve 25% direct black ownership in Sasol South Africa is a step in the right direction and is in line with the broad-based black economic empowerment legislation and should be supported.

Mabe called on Solidarity to become part of the nation-building project that seeks to build a prosperous nation.