Coloured community positive after response to protests
Hopes of being included in hiring policies of local government and business look possible following peaceful protests.
Last month, a memorandum of demands was handed to Rahima Moosa Mother and Child and Helen Joseph hospitals, and businesses by the coloured community to demand their inclusion in hiring policies.
Led by Bishop Dulton Adams, a Member of the Provincial Legislature, the historically disadvantaged community members of Westbury say they are excluded from access to jobs.
“The purpose of the memorandum was to express our deep concern, anger, and frustration with the direction local government is steering coloured communities.
“There has been a consistent and quiet acceptance of the unfair treatment meted out by successive governments. First by the apartheid government and now by our own brothers and sisters who fought cheek by jowl against that hated system of social engineering.”
Specifically, they are protesting the government’s Employment Equity Amendment Bill.
Ronald Harris, one of the organisers said, “The response to our demands for social justice has been positively received by all but one entity that we visited. We have established committees that will work closely with the entities to address identified issues. No parallel structures will be established.”
He said the ‘real work starts now as we seek to redress years of inequality and injustice’.
The City of Johannesburg’s latest approved business plan shows the coloured community holds just below 4% of jobs across all entities. “This debunks any notion that we are racist or coloured nationalists. Using demographics as employment criteria in a ‘non-racial’ South Africa does not make sense.”
Related article:
The coloured community of Westbury demands to be included in the local economy
