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.
Raymond 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',” Raymond says.
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.
JOB HUNT: Raymond responded to this ad
After speaking with the Daily Voice, Artur has invited Raymond to apply for the job.
“I will give him [Raymond] a fair chance and we are inviting him to come for an interview today [Wednesday] and the decision can be made then,” he said.