The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) picketed an upmarket car dealership in Cape Town last Friday, following reports of an advertisement that specified ‘Non EE/AA’.
The initial report, carried in the Mail and Guardian said that Schlemmer and Associates, a recruitment company, had drawn up and published an advertisement for a position at the Sean McCarthy Group (SMG).
The company said, however that they had not been briefed by SMG to find a candidate for the position. Rather, Schlemmer and Associates had acted ‘proactively’ to do so. SMG indicated that the position was not going to be filled, so the issue was in any event moot.
The EFF however, turned out to protest about the firm’s alleged racism. An agreement was reached, whereby SMG and the EFF would discuss the matter in the coming week. An EFF official told the media that SMG had appropriately ‘humbled themselves’.
This comes in the wake of protests – sometimes accompanied by destruction – directed by the EFF at the Clicks chain. At issue there was a controversial, racially charged advertisement for hair products.
Meanwhile, veteran journalist Ferial Haffajee penned a piece which drew attention to the EFF’s use of violence and threats of violence as a political tool. In the Clicks case, this resulted in a concession by the chain, which agreed in effect to help it distribute patronage. ‘Violence can be like a bullet train – fast and unstoppable,’ she wrote, ‘Unless South Africans do something about it.’
Image: File photo