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Trade union Solidarity and the South African Police Service (SAPS) today agreed in the Labour Court in Braamfontein to postpone a case regarding affirmative action between the two parties until a final ruling has been issued in the Renate Barnard case. Solidarity welcomes the postponement, as the Barnard case will give clarity on affirmative action in South Africa.
 
Dirk Hermann, Deputy General Secretary of Solidarity, said today’s case, in which the trade union acted on behalf of Lieutenant Colonel Bernard van der Westhuizen, once again proved the absurdness of the Barnard ruling. ‘In the Barnard case the court bolstered the principle that posts may be left vacant for the sake of affirmative action. The police used this very principle today in the Van der Westhuizen case in an attempt to rationalise why they had left 70 posts vacant for purposes of affirmative action. The police’s rationalisation indicates that they attach more importance to affirmative action than to good service to the South African public.’
 

Facts pertaining to the Van der Westhuizen case:
·         Barend Jacobus van der Westhuizen has been in the employ of the SAPS since 27 December 1988.
·         Van der Westhuizen currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the police’s Information and Systems Management division.
·         On 26 June 2009 eight positions in this unit were advertised as part of the annual promotion opportunities. Van der Westhuizen applied for the position of System Manager: Business Intelligence/Geographical Information Systems. Interviews were held on 25 August 2009 and the member was recommended as the ‘only’ suitable candidate for appointment to the position.
·         On 20 October 2009 Head Office issued a letter to all departments in which instruction is given to all departments to review all promotions from level 8 upwards in order to achieve an equal gender division of 50%. This instruction is the result of a meeting between the then Police Commissioner, Bheki Cele, and some of his deputies on 19 October 2009.
·         On 28 October 2009 the panel responsible for the filling of the above and other posts met to review its recommendations in the light of Cele’s instruction. It was recorded that because of the core functions and technical nature of three of the posts the panel was not in a position to review the recommendations, and that the recommended candidates be appointed to the specific positions. The position for which Van der Westhuizen had applied was designated as one of these positions. It was furthermore mentioned that this particular post had been vacant for over a year already.
·         On 9 November 2009 during a presentation to the National Commissioner the panel’s recommendations were rejected and the three posts were withdrawn with the instruction to readvertise them. On 10 November another three posts in the Visible Policing Unit were withdrawn. On 11 November it was confirmed that Mpumalanga was withdrawing 25 posts and Gauteng 8 posts because of affirmative action.
·         In August 2010 Solidarity brought an application on behalf of Van der Westhuizen, which will be heard on Thursday, 8 November in the Labour Court in Braamfontein.