Black Management Forum insists that the withdrawal by Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa of a job advertisement stipulating that the candidate must be black does not resolve transformation issues within the company.
The company was forced to withdraw the advert after trade union Solidarity threatened legal action over the job adverts for intern positions. Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa had put out an ad for a number of fleet internships in the logistics division, seeking qualified persons to manage the fleet operation and perform other duties at its facilities in Pretoria, Durban, Polokwane and at the Perseverance industrial area in Gqeberha.
The sought candidates needed to be South African citizens not older than 35-years, possess a grade 12 qualification and be certified as diesel mechanics or fitters. However Solidarity took issue with the beverage maker stipulating in the now withdrawn advertisement that it was seeking “employment equity” candidates.
An employment equity plan is a legally required framework that guides how companies promote fair representation in the workplace. Under South African law, employers must set targets to improve the participation of designated groups, including black people, women and people with disabilities, to address historical exclusion.
BMF managing director, Monde Ndlovu told Sunday World the withdrawal of the advert still does not address the company’s legal imperative to transform.
He said the debate rather reflects tensions around transformation in the country where efforts to address historical inequality often face resistance.
“Transformation has never been an organic process in South Africa; it has never been fully embraced because it causes lots of reaction, national reaction. Look at how the economy was structured prior 1994; it was constructed for only a minority of people and not necessarily the majority.
“Some of the skills that were out there, we were told as black people that we deserve inferior education. When we talk transformation, it is deeply rooted in South Africa and how businesses operate, why they should operate in a market that is really trying to transform, and also bearing in mind the shareholders expectations of a particular organisation in South Africa,” said Ndlovu.
He said Coca-Cola has its own employment equity targets, based on earlier sector requirements, which it is expected to meet across different levels of management, and the key issue is how well the company is performing against those targets.
While some have criticised the wording of the advert as offensive, the real concern is how Coca-Cola is managing and driving its employment equity plan overall, Ndlovu added.
While white people are also part of the country’s economically active population, they were not the majority and companies need to consider these demographics when implementing their plans.
Ndlovu said this makes Coca-Cola’s internal employment equity strategy more important than a single internship advert, which has already been withdrawn, adding that the focus should be on whether the company is genuinely transforming internally.
In a letter of demand dated April 7, Solidarity argued that the internship requirement effectively reserved positions for designated groups and excluded others from applying. The union described the practice as discriminatory and called for the withdrawal of the race-based criteria in hiring.
Solidarity also warned that such measures could create barriers for some applicants and may not achieve meaningful equality if applied rigidly.
“The effect of the race-based approach of Coca-Cola’s labour practice is that unemployed persons who happen to be white are, without qualification, barred from applying for the position,” the trade union said.
In response, Coca-Cola confirmed that the advert had been removed and attributed the issue to a wording error.
The company said it was conducting an internal investigation and remains committed to fair and inclusive employment practices in line with the law.
- Black Management Forum insists that the withdrawal by Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa of a job advertisement stipulating that the candidate must be black does not resolve transformation issues within the company.
- The company was forced to withdraw the advert after trade union Solidarity threatened legal action over the job adverts for intern positions.
- Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa had put out an ad for a number of fleet internships in the logistics division, seeking qualified persons to manage the fleet operation and perform other duties at its facilities in Pretoria, Durban, Polokwane and at the Perseverance industrial area in Gqeberha.
- The sought candidates needed to be South African citizens not older than 35-years, possess a grade 12 qualification and be certified as diesel mechanics or fitters.
- However Solidarity took issue with the beverage maker stipulating in the now withdrawn advertisement that it was seeking “employment equity” candidates.
