The Citizen reports that Eskom has successfully appealed a Labour Court judgment that ruled its practice of not shortlisting members of non-designated groups for advertised posts amounted to an absolute barrier and is not an affirmative action measure as contemplated by the Employment Equity Act (EEA).

A judgment handed down in the Labour Appeal Court on Wednesday upheld Eskom’s appeal and set aside and dismissed the Labour Court judgment handed down in May 2024. In the 2024 Labour Court judgment, Judge Hilary Rabkin-Naicker had also ordered that “Eskom must take remedial steps to ensure that the said practice ceases”. Rabkin-Naiker further ruled that Eskom had “unfairly discriminated” against Altus Erasmus.

The judge ordered Eskom to pay Erasmus compensation equal to 18 months of his salary at the time he applied for the post of manager for site outage execution at a peaking pow However, Acting Labour Appeal Court Judge Cagney Musi – with Judge Kate Savage and Acting Judge Basheer Waglay concurring – said the evidence establishes that Erasmus was not appointed because of the employment equity (EE) targets and the pipeline Eskom implemented to change the demographics at senior management level.er station for Eskom’s group technology division.

“This was a rational way to target a particular class of persons who have been susceptible to unfair discrimination at that level. “It was conceived to protect and advance them, and it promotes equality,” said Musi. Comment was requested from Solidarity but a response has not yet been received.

by Roy Cokayne