Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa has withdrawn a job advertisement for an intern position that stipulated that only “employment equity” candidates could apply.

• Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa has withdrawn a job advertisement for an intern position that stipulated only “employment equity” candidates could apply.
• Solidarity says it initiated legal action against the company in response to the ad.
• The company was looking for a logistics intern.
• For more financial news, visit News24 Business.

Solidarity has threatened Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) with legal action over a job advertisement for an intern position that stipulated that only “employment equity” candidates may apply.

The internship was in the logistics division.

In the original job advertisement, which Solidarity shared on X, one requirement was that candidates must be an “Employment Equity candidate”.

“In the job advertisement for an internship aimed at unemployed young people, Coca-Cola stipulated that the candidate must be black. There is no moral justification for classifying unemployed young people according to race. There is also no obligation on companies to include racial requirements in advertisements. On the contrary, racially exclusive advertisements are unlawful. The inclusion of race in advertisements is a self-imposed practice by employers that must be stopped,” said the union’s CEO, Dirk Hermann.

He said Solidarity “initiated legal action” against Coca-Cola.

Solidarity also plans to lodge a complaint at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), of which the US, Coca-Cola’s home country, is a signatory.

Hermann said Coca-Cola responded to the union in writing, in which it acknowledged a “wording error”.

CCBSA noted that this had resulted in the “prompt removal of the advertisement”.

The beverage group said it was following “internal investigation procedures to ensure that similar errors do not occur again”.

It added that it was “committed to developing a workforce with diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds that reflect the broad range of consumers we serve, and our approach to fair and inclusive employment practices is guided by our obligations under law”.

Although Coca-Cola had removed the advertisement, Anton van der Bijl, head of Solidarity’s legal division, told News24 that CCBSA had not conceded to other demands made by Solidarity in a letter of complaint to it.

This included an “undertaking that they will not advertise any positions with any race classification or criteria”.

“While we are awaiting instruction from our legal team, we feel at this point it looks like we are going to proceed with a complaint to the OECD based on these other demands not being met,” said Van der Bijl.

CCBSA told News24 it did not “have any additional comments at this time”.