Equality | The South African Police Service Case

A new law said that the Commissioner of the Police 'may' take account of race when making promotions to senior levels. Given that the newly integrated police service was disproportionately led by white Afrikaans-speaking men, the commissioner actively set about promoting black police officers. A well-qualified white woman was turned down several times for promotion to a specialised post. Eventually she went to Court claiming that the commissioner was being unfair to her. The Court’s judgment held that although the word 'may' gave the commissioner a very wide discretion, that discretion had to be exercised fairly. To keep the post open after diligent attempts to find a suitable black nominee had failed, was unfair to her.