BMF supports Woolies on employment equity

The Black Management Forum (BMF) supports Woolworths' efforts to achieve employment equity, it said on Sunday.

"We support the employment equity steps taken by Woolworths, particularly at management level, where there is under-representation of black people," the BMF said in a statement.

"Seeking equitable representation is one of the key ways in which South Africa can address economic transformation."

The forum said the constitutional imperative of employment equity was neither racist nor discriminatory, as it merely was trying to correct what was wrongfully done in the past.

"We call upon all business institutions... [to] rally against that which might be precipitated by irresponsible calls by AfriForum and Solidarity," the BMF said.

Trade union Solidarity announced a campaign on Wednesday to force Woolworths to retract job advertisements it believed discriminated against whites.

Solidarity deputy general secretary Dirk Hermann said the company had failed to retract advertisements for posts for which only black candidates would be considered, despite the union raising concerns about this on Tuesday.

Woolworths responded at the time and defended its employment policy again in prominent advertisements placed in Sunday newspapers.

In advertisements published in the City Press, Rapport and Sunday Times newspapers, the company said it did employ white people, contrary to media reports stating otherwise.

"Over the past few days, many things have been said about our recruitment practises -- specifically, that we don't employ white people. That is simply not true.

"Woolworths does employ white people. We employ women and men of all races -- white, black, coloured, Indian, as well as people with disabilities, and we will continue to do so."

It said there were certain areas of its business which were seriously under-represented.

It was in these areas that Woolworths was looking for candidates from certain groups.

"Because like all of South Africa's major companies, we're committed to transformation," it said.