The Twittersphere was abuzz this week when a blogger by the name of Justin Harrison accused Woolies of being racist in their employment policies.
According to this post, Woolworths SA were advertising jobs only open to African, Coloured and Indian candidates.
This made a number of people, including a certain local singer, known for his pro-Afrikaner rants, very upset (here’s a clue: he won’t be buying pampoen at Woolies anytime soon). He tweeted: “Gonna be hard, but goodbye Woolies.”
Jeez, maybe I don't get it because right now, I am not looking for another job. But sjoe, talk about dramatic...
Has everyone forgotten the fact that South African companies are obligated by law to actively support and initiate transformation in the workplace?
With this in mind, it shouldn't come as a shock. Or should it? Now even I am confused.
Here’s what Woolworths had to say about the matter on their website, Facebook and Twitter:
“Over the past few days, we’ve been accused of racist employment practices. We’d like to state the facts:
• Like all South African companies, Woolworths has a role to play in transformation. For this reason, SOME positions (where there is under-representation) are designated for EE groups.
• The designated groups are Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, women and people with disability.
• As per the Employment Equity Act of 1998, Woolworths is expected, like all SA companies with more than 50 employees, to plan our workforce by race, gender and disability.
• Our workforce is diverse and includes people of all races (Black, White, Coloured, Indian), gender and disability.
We appreciate the value diversity brings to our business and the need to contribute to levelling the playing fields for certain groups of South Africa's population.”
Personally, I think everyone should just calm down. What are your thoughts?