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The trade union Solidarity has welcomed Thursday's ruling in the Supreme Court of Appeal that effectively set clear guidelines for the implemenation of affirmative action.
The court ruling comes after an eight year long battle by police woman, lieutenant-colonel Renate Barnard, who claimed she had been denied promotion because of her race.
The court ruled that she had clearly been discrminated against by the SA Police Service on the basis of race.
Solidarity's Dirk Hermann, says the court ruling is not only a victory for the union and Barnard, but for the whole of South Africa.
"The whole case sent out a message of hope. Renate fought for eight years for justice and it shows for ordinary South Africans that if you fight for what's right you will get victory at the end of the day," he said.
Hermann also said that the the ruling provides clear guidelines for the implemenation of affirmative action.
"Two guidelines came out quite strongly. In the first you can't use the national demographic as an absolute yardstick, that's a racial demographic. In the second place it also made it clear that you must take into account service delivery. So, in short this specific ruling says that you must take more factors into account than only race," he said.
In yesterday's ruling the Supreme Court of Appeal said that the SA Police Service clearly discriminated against Lt-Col Renate Barnard on the basis of race.
Its upheld an appeal against a decision of the Labour Appeal Court that overturned an earlier decision of the Labour Court.
The Labour Court held that Barnard had been unfairly discriminated against when she was not appointed to the promotion position of superintendent within a specialised unit of the SAPS, despite being the best candidate for the post.
The Solidarity trade union helped Barnard with her legal battle.
