Dis-Chem “no-whites” policy officially withdrawn

Dis-Chem has officially withdrawn its moratorium on the appointment and promotion of white people at the company.

The debacle started after Dis-Chem CEO Ivan Saltzman distributed a letter inside the company which prohibited the appointment and promotion of white people.

In the letter, Saltzman put a moratorium on the appointment of white individuals, including external appointments and internal promotions.

He explained that when a white individual is appointed, they need several blacks to maintain the status quo.

“The achievement of set employment equity targets will be incorporated into management’s bonus structure, and the allocation will be issued in due course,” he said.

On 13 October, Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann published Saltzman’s letter on Twitter, which caused a backlash against Dis-Chem.

Many people called for a Dis-Chem boycott, and the pharmacy chain’s sales started to suffer.

Dis-Chem CFO Rui Morais said sales declined after Saltzman’s letter was published and the subsequent social media storm.

“We have seen our growth trend reverse from 17 October to 24 October when looking at daily sales numbers following the leaking of the memo,” he said.

The company then released a statement saying there is “simply no ban on employing and promoting white individuals”.

However, it did not officially respond to Solidarity’s legal letter clarifying whether it still has a ban on employing and promoting white people. It has now happened.

Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann said Dis-Chem confirmed in a legal letter that the ban on white employees is no longer in place.

The response from Dis-Chem’s legal team followed after Solidarity served legal papers on the pharmacy group last month.

Solidarity argued that Dis-Chem could not stand by the memorandum while acting in compliance with the Employment Equity Act (EEA) requirements.

Dis-Chem’s legal team responded, saying, “our client’s position simply remains that there is no ban on the employment and promotion of white people at Dis-Chem”.

Hermann thanked consumers for using their spending power to win the battle against race ideology.

“It was a show of power. However, the battle is not over. Continue with the quest to make information about these matters public,” he said.

The letter from Dis-Chem CEO Ivan Saltzman that caused the debacle