Acting police chief in race row over 'JMPD doesn't have coloureds' recording

• JMPD acting chief, Angela Mokasi, has been embroiled in a race row after she was heard saying that wardens won't be permanently appointed because they are coloured. 
  
• The recording has been cut to sound like she is saying they can't work at JMPD because of their race, but a longer recording has her explaining that the race quota did not allow for more coloured wardens.
• The Employment Equity quota was signed into law in May and outlined a quota for the department.

An edited version of a meeting between the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) and wardens working for the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has been circulated on social media.

In this version, the acting chief of police for JMPD, Angela Mokasi, said that the 14 wardens won't be appointed permanently because they are coloured. 

The meeting occurred last week when the coloured wardens noticed they were the only members of the 74 EPWP wardens not short-listed for a permanent job.  

A video clip of one of the coloured wardens speaking has also made the rounds. In the video, a warder said the 60 people who received short-listing notices were all black.

The minute-long viral sound clip was cut from a 20-minute meeting between the parties, which was given to News24 by JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla.

Fihla said he could not comment further on the matter.

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In the extended version, Mokasi explains that they likely did not receive the short-listing because they were listed as "coloured", and the employment equity (EE) targets favoured other racial groups.

"In JMPD, we don't have coloureds. Chances are you are in the JMPD counted as coloureds. Then EE targets are determined by the metro centre people dealing with [those] targets."

She said the targets were considered "fair discrimination" and also applied to gender, and set a quota for the number of people per racial group that can be hired.

Mokasi tells the wardens that she is not saying that they mustn't challenge the EE quota.

She added:

The advert for the position was published on 19 May and informs potential applicants that the city applies the EE principles in its final selection.

"The City of Johannesburg applies the principles of employment equity as per national legislation and policy guidelines and will consider designated groups in line with these requirements. 

"Preference will be given to previously disadvantaged groups, including those with disabilities. Appointments will be made in accordance with the approved employment equity plan to promote its equitable representation in terms of race, gender and disability," it reads.

In April, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Employment Equity Amendment Bill of 2020 into law. Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi released the targets for 11 sectors that must be achieved in five years.

There are two targets for black, Indian, coloured and white employees, men and women, and people with disabilities. One set is a national target for companies that operate nationally, and another is provincial.

In the public administration and defence, compulsory social security section of the May 2023 EE Government Gazette, the Gauteng quota for "skilled" employment is:

• 85.1% black (47% male, 38% female),
• 2.5% coloured (1.4% male, 1.1% female),
• 3.7% Indian (2% male, 1.7% female) and,
• 11% white (6.4% male, 4.6% female).

Margaret Arnolds, the African Independent Congress AIC caucus leader in Johannesburg and chair of Community Development Section 79 Committee Oversight, said the best thing to do would be to get Mokasi and the woman who took the recording together.

Arnolds is a staunch advocate of the rights of the coloured community in the Joburg council.

"We need to get them together to understand what went wrong and where. At the moment, we have two recordings. Why would someone edit the recording to make another version?

"We need to investigate this properly before it gets blown out of proportion. If [Mokasi] was being racist, then we can deal with her."

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Arnolds said the issue of quotas is marginalising the coloured community, and there was a need to address the system rather than accusing someone who has to implement the system of being racist.

"So, there is a need to look into this with the perspective that will bring answers for everybody that would not include hatred and violence."

In response to the allegations of racism at JMPD, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) released a statement on Saturday. 

The PA is a majority-coloured party which is vocal about the rights of the coloured community. 

The party said it was outraged at the "exposure of hiring practices in the City of Johannesburg against coloured job applicants". 

It added:

It said investigations into the event captured on tape were under way, and the mayor and coalition partners had been consulted.

"Provincial population statistics are often used to determine who to hire according to demographic proportions. Johannesburg has a much higher proportion of coloured residents than the rest of Gauteng, and this city deserves to reflect that and should reflect that."

The PA said that running the country according to racial signifiers needed to end.

"In 1994, this country had an opportunity to end apartheid by getting rid of the racial labels officially. Instead, we kept them, and we entrenched division and retained the echoes of apartheid that continue to haunt us now, nearly 30 years after democracy.

"This is not what the struggle was meant to achieve, and we must do better. It is time to stop being blacks, whites, coloureds and Indians but to become South Africans," it said.