Cape Flats man turned down for 'blacks only' job

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Cape Town - A Manenberg man says he feels discriminated against after he responded to a job advertisement and claims he was told it was “only for blacks”. Raymond Jacobs, 51, says he is a driver with over 30 years’ experience. On Monday, he went through the classifieds section of a Cape Town newspaper and found an ad that read: “CODE 10 DRIVER REQUIRED. Cape Town area. Must have 2-3yrs exp and have valid PDP”, followed by the contact details. Jacobs explains: “At the moment, I am a meter taxi driver. I am desperately seeking other employment as the taxi industry is dying because of Uber. I have 31 years’ driving experience and a valid PDP licence." He says he spoke to a “coloured woman”.

“She instantly told me: ‘Look, the job is for black people only. I’m just giving you a heads up because you’re going to waste your time if you send your CV',” Jacobs says.

Picture: Supplied

He says he now wonders whether he will ever find a job in South Africa because he is coloured.

“I worked at various companies and this is the first time I have ever experienced someone saying it’s a ‘blacks only’ job, which was a heavy blow for me. I have a five-year-old daughter dependent on me. I need something stable,” he laments.

“So are you telling me now that I won’t be able to get a job in South Africa because I am a coloured?” he questions.

The Daily Voice contacted the company, Silver Springs, a bottled water supplier in Blackheath.

Owner Artur Marcal says it’s not a race issue, rather a language preference.

“This is not about him being a certain race. We wanted the person applying to be Xhosa-speaking as per the clients they will be dealing with. Our company is mixed and we have employees from different races working at the company,” Artur said.

After speaking with the Daily Voice, Artur has invited Jacobs to apply for the job.

“I will give him [Jacobs] a fair chance and we are inviting him to come for an interview today [Wednesday] and the decision can be made then,” he said.

Daily Voice