Unfair discrimination and affirmative action in the South African Police Service

Affirmative action is the purposeful, planned placement and development of competent or potentially competent persons in or to positions from which they were debarred in the past. Affirmative action is an attempt to redress past population, on a local and national level. One of the requirements of a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Taylor, Nicola
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10948/8693
Description
Summary:Affirmative action is the purposeful, planned placement and development of competent or potentially competent persons in or to positions from which they were debarred in the past. Affirmative action is an attempt to redress past population, on a local and national level. One of the requirements of affirmative action in South Africa is that it must target persons who have been discriminted by unfair discrimination in the past. the Emplyment Equity Act was brought into the South African government to bring equality to all. Unfair discrimination is a branch of affirmative action in which individuals are discriminated against not only on race, but includes colour, sex, religion, age, disability, language and the likes. Section 9 of the Constitution of South Africa prohibits unfair discrimination against any person on any of the listed grounds. Section 2 of the Employment Equity Act is in place to aim to achieve equity within the workplace by promoting equal opportunity and fair treatment as well as eliminating unfair discrimination. Section 6, like the Constitution, lists grounds against which an individual may not be discriminated. Historically, the South African Police Services were a deeply-routed racist organization, where only white males were afforded better opportunities. This however changed after South Africa became a democratic country and with the introduction of the SAPS Act. Transformation within the SAPS took place after South Africa moved towards a democratic society.