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Johannesburg - A legal challenge of the correctional services department's transformation policies continues in the Labour Court on Friday, The Times reported.
According to the newspaper, Geo-Nita Baartman, who has worked for the department for over 13 years, is one of 10 white and coloured prison staff who believe they have been unfairly overlooked for promotion.
An interview panel reportedly recommended Baartman as the best candidate for a position, but the job was given to the second best candidate, a black woman.
When this woman did not take the job, Baartman was again passed over in favour of the third best candidate.
The Times reported that this was because, as a coloured woman, she did not meet the department's quota policy.
Assisted by the FW de Klerk Foundation and trade union Solidarity, the 10 approached the Labour Court on the grounds that the application of the department's policy amounted to racism.
Their own union, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, would not support them because it was in favour of the policy.
In a June 2011 circular, the department said it would apply national, rather than regional, demographics.
Under this policy, blacks would comprise 79.5% of staff in the Western Cape, whites and coloureds 9% each, and Indians 2.5%.
