Cape Argus reports that the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in the Western Cape has found that discrimination against coloured applicants at the Labour Department's offices in Mitchells Plain constituted a human rights violation that must be further investigated by its national office.  

The commission conducted an investigation after a complaint was laid by the organisation Gatvol Capetonians that coloured people were overlooked by the department when they applied for 46 posts last year.  According to Gatvol president Fadiel Adams, about 1,000 coloured candidates from the community applied but were not considered or shortlisted.  Their applications were handed in at the Mitchells Plain office and put in a box.  However, commissioner Chris Nissen noted that no explanation was given by the department to the 1,000 applicants about the box and what transpired.  He conducted various interviews and visited the offices of the department in February and March.  “The commission can only conclude that the 46 appointed in one grouping undermines the rights of others in Mitchells Plain and therefore constitutes an alleged human rights violation.  It will now recommend that the commission makes a thorough investigation into these practices in the provincial Labour Department,” Nissen indicated.

• Read the full original of Vincent Cruywagen’s report on this story at Cape Argus

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