Invitation to IRR Legal media briefing: Racial discrimination in the police service

IRR Legal research will be presented on official racial and gender discrimination in employment conditions at SAPS from 2000 to 2024.

This analysis is based on never-before-seen data officially produced by the police.

The data show that overall black males faced the highest risk of being disadvantaged by race-gender discrimination under BEE’s “representivity” rule at SAPS due to “numerical goals” and “targets”.

The interim report will be published with an interactive presentation on 15 January 2026. The date marks the deadline for the private sector’s first report back on new plans for legally required race-gender discrimination under the same BEE “representivity” rule that has been in force at SAPS for the last 26 years.

Almost the entire market has suddenly come to labour under the same conditions SAPS has employed for decades because the Employment Equity Act (EEA), part of the BEE system, was recently amended and Regulations were added to impose the “representivity” rule on all companies with more than 50 employees, covering at least 7.5 million workers. This makes the time ripe to understand how the “representivity” rule has played out in SAPS over decades.

What is the BEE “representivity” rule? The EEA requires that every rank in the workforce have the same demographic makeup across eight race-gender pairs as the broader population.

How is “representivity” enforced? The Constitutional Court ruled that the “representivity” rule of the EEA can be enforced by refusing to appoint the best candidate for a job, and to keep the post empty instead. This has explicitly happened on countless occasions in the public sector under the EEA, though the “representivity” rule has not faced some important constitutional tests flagged by IRR Legal.

Can “representivity” be used to bar black people from jobs? Denying people specific jobs through official race-gender discrimination is called applying the “Barnard Principle” by the Constitutional Court. The apex court clearly stated that the “Barnard Principle” can be applied against black people and women, and all eight race-gender pairs.

Have black people ever been denied jobs because of BEE? Yes. Court records show this has happened, and the Constitutional Court has approved this under the EEA, which now applies across at least 7.5 million workers in the private sector.

Previously unseen data discovered by IRR Legal's research team will be used to address these questions:

• How many black police have been exposed to circumstances where the “Barnard Principle” could be used to deny them work since 2014?
• How many coloured, white and Indian police have been exposed to “Barnard Principle” circumstances?

Public data will also be used to address these questions:

• Has police performance and trust in the police improved or deteriorated during the “Barnard” era of race-gender discrimination?
• What can SAPS’s experience of pursuing “representivity” by blocking black men, and women, and people of all six other race-gender pairs, teach the private sector as an estimated 7 million+ new workers now suddenly fall under the same “representivity” rule that SAPS imposed for 26 years?

Webinar details:

Date: Thursday 15 January 2026

Time: 10:00 - 11:00

Speakers:

Gabriel Crouse, IRR Legal Executive Director

Terence Corrigan, IRR Projects and Publications Manager

Register here: https://streamyard.com/watch/gHCUyN3yuprX 

Media contact: Gabriel Crouse, IRR Legal Executive Director Tel: 082 510 0360 Email: gabriel@irrlegal.org.za 

Media enquiries: Hermann Pretorius, IRR Head of Strategic Communications Tel: 079 875 4290 Email: hermann@irr.org.za