Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, colleagues and guests, we say to one another, and I quote:
... I cannot be without you, without you this South African community is an incomplete community, without one single person, without one single group, without the region or the continent, we are not the best that we can be.
Chairperson, these are the words contained in the National Development Plan's vision statement and they underwrite the principle of a rainbow nation, which South Africa desperately needs.
Contrary to this, the equity plan of the Department of Correctional Services excludes certain race groups and ignores regions. I am mentioning this in the light of one of the biggest Labour Court cases in the history of South Africa, in which 10 Department of Correctional Services officials, with the help of the union Solidarity, are fighting for equal treatment; to be acknowledged as citizens of South Africa; and for the opportunity to make a contribution to give effect to the objectives of the NDP. These officers are discriminated against, not because they are incompetent or lack the relevant qualifications to qualify for appointments or promotions, but purely because of the colour of their skin.
Whilst these officials fight for nonracialism, the Department of Correctional Services and the ANC enforce racial separation and segregation, similar to the apartheid government. Section 9(1) of the Constitution states, and I quote:
Everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law.
This principle of the Constitution was complied with during the Constitutional Court case City Council of Pretoria v Walker:
No member of a racial group should be made to feel that they are not deserving of equal concern, respect and consideration and that the law is likely to be used against them more harshly than others who belong to other race groups.
Section 15(3) of the Employment Equity Act states, and I quote:
The measures referred to in subsection (2)(d) include preferential treatment and numerical goals, but exclude quotas ...
And section 15(4) of the Employment Equity Act states that -
Subject to section 42, nothing in this section requires a designated employer to take any decision concerning an employment policy or practice that would establish an absolute barrier to the prospective or continued employment or advancement of people who are not from the designated groups.
The provisions of section 15 were espoused in the Van Heerden case, in which Justice Moseneke stated, and I quote:
In particular, a measure should not constitute an abuse of power or impose such substantial and undue harm on those excluded from its benefits that our long-term constitutional goal would be threatened.
It is evident that the quota system of the Department of Correctional Services is in direct conflict with the Employment Equity Act, the vision of the National Development Plan and our courts. However, this management tool is not only confined to the department, it is utilised by all national departments.
It is absolutely clear that the Department of Correctional Services and the ANC-led government separate us, ignore us, reject us and abuse us. It follows that South Africans first have to discharge the onus of blackness to be able to qualify for a job or promotion, which is currently the only criterion that the ANC-led government applies to the job market.
The National Development Plan states:
A plan is only as credible as its delivery mechanism is viable. There is a real risk that South Africa's developmental agenda could fail, because the state is incapable of implementing it.
There is no doubt that the Department of Correctional Services equity plan is contributing to the failure of government. However, the government is still prepared to sacrifice competency, service delivery and unity for their race-based policies.
The DA applauds the members of the department who, with the support of Solidarity, have the courage to confront these unfair discriminatory practices in the Labour Court, when they are well aware of the risk of victimisation.
Victimisation has already reared its ugly head in the Western Cape, where Mr Freddie Engelbrecht, the deputy regional commissioner of the Western Cape, was denied an opportunity to act as a regional commissioner in the absence of the Regional Commissioner, Mr Klaas, although it is in line with standard practice.
This is happening at a time when the Minister and the Department declared 2013 as the Year of the Correctional Official. Is this, Minister, the aim of your programme?
The only logical conclusion one can draw, in terms of this deviation from standard practice, is that the Department of Correctional Services management is now hitting back at those officials who dare to challenge the equity policies of the department.
It is here where the department has it wrong. These officials made it plain in court that they are not against management; they are not disloyal to government; and they are not against any other race group. They are against discrimination and the implementation of section 42 of the Employment Equity Act.
These officials are fighting against exclusion and separation of people based on the colour of their skin. If to divide and rule was the grand design of apartheid, then this case proves that the ANC is perpetuating it, contrary to the spirit and letter of our Constitution. [Time expired.] [Applause.]