Employer groups seek urgent interdict against Employment Equity regulations
The Department of Employment and Labour is forging ahead with the implementation of the Employment Equity Amendment Act.
Image: Leon Lestrade/ Independent Newspapers
The National Employers' Association of South Africa (Neasa) and Sakeliga have officially notified the Minister of Employment and Labour, Dr Nomakhosazana Meth, of their intent to seek an urgent interdict against the contentious Employment Equity (EE) regulations.
This comes after the department published two sets of EE Regulations on 15 April - the General Administrative Regulations, and Regulations on Sector Numerical EE Targets - following the commencement of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, No. 4 of 2022, on 1 January 2025.
The proposed regulations mandate employers to adhere to strict hiring quotas based on race, sex, and disability, with penalties for non-compliance reaching up to 10% of a company's turnover.
Section 15(A) of the Equity Employment Amendment Act empowers the minister to set numerical targets.
According to the Act, the Minister may, after consulting the relevant sectors and with the advice of the Commission for Employment Equity (CEE), for the purpose of ensuring the equitable representation of suitably qualified people from the designated groups at all occupational levels in the workforce, by notice in the Government Gazette set numerical targets for any national economic sector identified in terms of subsection (1).
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Neasa on Wednesday said the urgency of this interdict stemmed from concerns voiced by the associations about the potential for these regulations to inflict irreparable harm on both public and private sectors.
Neasa and Sakeliga argue that the minister's plan risks the allocation of resources ineffectively in a futile attempt to meet what they describe as 'impossible' compliance requirements.
Under the proposed framework, companies would be required to categorise themselves into one of 18 economic sectors and adjust their workforce composition according to a series of demographic quotas.
These quotas, referred to as 'numerical sectoral targets,' highlight a drastic shift in hiring practices, where businesses are instructed to limit appointments or promotions of employees from so-called over-represented groups, which includes many white male staff members.
The end goal of these targets is to ensure that every single designated business (50 or more employees) in South Africa, regardless of industry, has a workforce that is representative of the racial and gender demographic composition of the country.
The 2025 CEE Annual Report shows that at Top Management, the White population representation at 61.1% is approximately eight times their Economically Active Population (EAP), and the Indian population representation at 11.9% is more than four times their EAP at the Top Management level.
In contrast, said the report, the African population representation is at 18.0%, which is approximately four times below their EAP, and the Coloured population representation at 6.2% is below their EAP at this occupational level.
The CEE Report concludes that the lack of equitable representation at the Top Management level does not bode well for the future sustainable economic growth of the country and the representation of the demographic population distribution in the workplace in terms of population groups, gender, and disability.
The Report said that at the Senior Management level, the picture remains appalling for the Africans, with the White and Indian Population representation remaining significantly higher than their EAP.
However, critics of the regulations, including Neasa and Sakeliga, maintain that the measures contravene established constitutional rights and impose unachievable demands on employers.
The economic repercussions, they argue, could be dire, potentially leading to significant job losses and overwhelming legal uncertainties that would disrupt business operations across the board.
"The regulations and the Employment Equity Act (as amended in 2023) establish unlawful, unconstitutional, and impossible demands. Their consequence would be severe financial harm to businesses and extensive social harm through economic disruption, increased unemployment, and legal uncertanty," Neasa said.
"We informed the minister that, in addition to our urgent application against the 2025 administrative regulations and sectoral targets, we also intend to challenge the Employment Equity Act on additional grounds."
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