The Equality Court has ruled in favour of a white magistrate in his case of unfair discrimination against the Port Elizabeth Magistrates’ Court over the appointment of a black female candidate. The Equality Court, says a report by The Herald, ruled that the Magistrates’ Court’s short-listing procedures with regard to appointing Regional Court magistrates discriminated unfairly against white male applicants. The procedures made it impossible for a white male to be promoted over a black female, irrespective of experience or any other non-race factors. This, the Equality Court said, was ‘unfair discrimination’, rather than ‘fair discrimination’, which was endorsed by the court with regards to employment equity. In the case of Magistrates Ignatius du Preez, Judge Andre Erasmus ruled that the Justice Minister had failed to prove that the discrimination against the white magistrate was fair. He ordered that the existing criteria for short-listing of candidates be set aside, the posts be re-advertised and that the minister pay the legal costs. According to the report, a second Magistrate, Neels Goosen, has brought a similar application to the High Court in its capacity as an Equality Court.
Full report in The Herald
Supplied courtesy of Legalbrief Today.
