    
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 7339
Registered: 07-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 05:25 pm: | 
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South Africa
Chinese say: We want to be black
2008/06/16
BUFFALO City’s Chinese community want to be considered black. Yesterday, they said they supported a move by the Chinese Association of South Africa to ask the courts to redefine them as “black people”.
If approved, the move will see them benefiting from BEE and employment equity laws designed to restore historical injustices of the past.
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that the Chinese Association would on Wednesday ask the Pretoria High Court to include their members in the definition of “black people” in the Broad-Based Economic Empowerment Act and the Employment Equity Act.
“We would definitely support the move, as we were shunted from pillar to post in the past,” East London’s Chinese Association chairperson Soong-Fong Lee said.
“Although we were socially accepted by everybody, you have to remember that we only received a vote as citizens of South Africa after 1994,” he said.
A ruling on the matter would provide clarity for corporate South Africa on the rights of Chinese staff, who were considered to be “coloured” under apartheid, the Sunday Times said.
Currently, such companies as Sasol state that South Africans of Chinese origin do not fall within the category of “black people”.
Because of uncertainty over whether Chinese people fall outside the definition of black, major companies have adopted differing positions on whether they qualified for such benefits.
State attorney Fumanekile Phamba confirmed that the matter would be heard by the Pretoria High Court on an unopposed basis.
The court, however, retains its discretion and may also make an order that the words “Chinese people” be read into the legislation.
Alternatively, it could deem the definitions in the Acts unconstitutional or refer the matter to the Constitutional Court.
- By JAN HENNOP
Online News Editor
http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=213827 |
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