Johannesburg: A court today issued a landmark ruling classifying Chinese South Africans as black, making them eligible for benefits for those discriminated against under the former apartheid regime.

The ruling from the Pretoria high court came after the Chinese Association of South Africa (CASA) challenged their exclusion from laws aimed at redressing economic imbalances under white-minority rule, which ended in 1994.

CASA argued that Chinese citizens continue to be marginalised under the country's black economic empowerment and affirmative action legislation. Both laws benefit the country's black, Indian and mixed-race communities.

"As Chinese South African we were officially classified as coloured during the apartheid era and suffered under the same discriminatory laws prior to 1994," CASA chairman Patrick Chong said.

"The logical inference was thus Chinese South Africans would automatically qualify for the same benefits afforded to the coloured group, post 1994."

The organisation has pressed government on the matter since 2000 in order to seek clarity on their racial classification.

Source : PTI