The bigots never tire. For many years they have sought to justify colonialism and slavery in their noble quest to bring civilisation to the heart of darkness. Last week they were at it again. This time their target was Jimmy Manyi, the employment equity commission chairperson. The bigots accuse him of double standards because he works for a company accused of colluding in bread price-fixing.
The poverty of understanding racism in South Africa was recently exposed by the Skielik killings. The four murders were depicted by the media as being caused by the temporary insanity of a troubled young man. The murdered victims simply disappeared into the sprawling squatter camp, as we were bombarded with psychosocial profiles of the perpetrator proving that he was the actual victim.
South African companies are like Irish coffee -- white on top and black at the bottom -- said Jimmy Manyi, commissioner of the Employment Equity Commission on Saturday. Speaking at the University of Stellenbosch on Saturday, Myani used the analogy to explain the lack of employment equity.
Tiger Brands began charging 40 cents more for a loaf of Albany bread on Monday, with Pioneer Foods and Premier Foods in the process of considering their increases. In response, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) suggested the increases were linked to last year's bread price-fixing scandal.
Tiger Consumer Brands, which owns Albany Bread, did not profit from the fixing of the price of bread, the company said on Tuesday. "The company did not benefit from the price-fixing. I don't know who did, but we did not," said spokesperson Jimmy Manyi.
White women should be struck off a list of groups recognised as previously disadvantaged in terms of the employment equity legislation, the Black Management Forum said on Tuesday. In its written submission, the forum requested that the current employment equity legislation be amended to exclude white women as beneficiaries.
A new group chief executive officer has been appointed at Alexander Forbes after the resignation of Peter Moyo, the company said on Tuesday. Bruce Campbell -- previously chairperson of the company -- has been appointed as group CEO. Moyo apparently left the company because of differences with the board.
The Competition Commission on Wednesday laid perjury charges against the managing executive of Adcock Ingram Critical Care at the Sunnyside police station in Pretoria. The commission said it had laid charges against Arthur Barnett for allegedly "committing the common law crime of perjury". He allegedly "knowingly" provided false information to the commission.
The Public Protector is to conduct a preliminary investigation into allegations of improper conduct against Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba. Gigaba had been informed of this by letter, the Public Protector's office said on Thursday. It said this "own initiative investigation" would seek to determine the merits of the allegations against Gigaba.
