Latest news with #EmploymentEquityAmendmentAct
IOL News
11-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
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). Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ 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."
Daily Maverick
11-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
The DA's employment equity case attempts to reverse transformation and entrench white minority privilege
The Democratic Alliance's (DA's) legal challenge to the Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEAA) is a thinly veiled attempt to reverse economic transformation and thereby entrench white minority privilege. The party's claim that its court action is in opposition to 'grand social engineering' rings hollow given the enduring legacy of apartheid's social and economic architecture. In truth, the DA's stance on EEAA is an ideological inheritance, a continuation of their historical resistance to redress; part of its raison d'être to fossilise colonial and apartheid racial and gender hierarchies. To appreciate this, let us briefly consider the Department of Employment and Labour's 24th Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) Annual Report (2023/24). It exposes the fiction that the private sector is a transformed happy terrain which the DA seeks to shield from the supposed 'interference' of the government. The report illustrates a country still struggling to shrug off the shadow of economic apartheid. For example, while the white population group constitutes 7.7% of the nation's economically active population (EAP), it nevertheless held 62.1% of top management level positions in 2023. Representing 2.6% of the EAP, South Africans of Indian descent held 11.6% of these posts. At 80.7% of EAP, black Africans hold 17.2% of top management roles, while coloureds, at 9% of the EAP, account for a paltry 6.1%. These disparities are neither natural nor God ordained; they are an outcome of Verwoerdian economic violence against Africans, coloureds and Indians. The CEE report also damningly notes that the majority of recruitment, promotion and skills-development opportunities at this highest echelon continue to flow to the white population group. This is not merit, it is the perpetuation of a boardroom order where white privilege remains the default. Conveyor belt of privilege The disparity reflected at top management cascades downwards to the senior management level where whites at 7.7% of EAP occupy 48.5% of positions, Indians who constitute 2.6% of EAP hold 12.4%, while black Africans hold 27.6% of positions despite being 80.7% of the population. The lion's share of opportunities still flows to those already at the top, which means that transformation is perpetually decked against a conveyor belt of privilege. The private sector emerges as the stronghold of this resistance. While the government has made commendable strides, achieving 74.7% black African representation at top management, the private sector languishes with a pitiful 14% black African representation at this level, effectively maintaining the apartheid-era status quo, where 65.1% of top posts are held by white individuals. Alongside racial disparities is gender inequality. Across all sectors, men dominate top management by more than two-and-a-half times females (roughly 73% male). While the government shows marginally better female representation at 35.4% in top leadership, the private sector registers 10% less, at 25.8%. This glass ceiling, often a result of old boys' clubs dressing up exclusion as 'culture fit', is an outcome of a patriarchal culture which compounds racial exclusion and puts paid to the mythology of a self-correcting market. Nowhere is this private-sector exceptionalism and entrenched bias more grotesque than in the DA-run Western Cape, their self-proclaimed bastion of good governance. There, white males alone occupy a staggering 57.2% of top management positions and 34.4% at senior management level. This is in a province where white people constitute only 17% of the population, compared with 42% coloured and 38% black African – who together form 80% of the residents. This is not a reflection of a 'dearth of qualified candidates'; it is a damning testament to a systemic racial and gender bias thriving under a political administration that pays lip service to equality while actively fighting the tools designed to achieve it. Coloured and black African professionals are corralled into the lower tiers by an exclusionary 'culture fit' that walks and quacks like 'job reservation' in post-apartheid South Africa. These are the gatekeepers making crucial investment and employment decisions and shaping institutional cultures that too often exclude black African, coloured and Indian talent. In its affidavit to the North Gauteng High Court, the DA wilfully misrepresents the amended Section 15A of the EEAA, which empowers the minister to set 'numerical targets', as a draconian imposition of immutable 'quotas'. Yet, the original Employment Equity Act (EEA), in Section 15(3), explicitly clarifies that affirmative action measures 'include preferential treatment and numerical goals, but exclude quotas'. The Constitution itself was drafted to smash apartheid's economic architecture, not to immortalise it, and the Employment Equity Act is one of our key demolition hammers. Transformation failure The current amendments provide a desperately needed impetus precisely because the 'context-sensitive employer-led plans' so cherished by the DA have demonstrably failed to achieve substantive transformation, as the CEE statistics brutally confirm. Furthermore, the Act is far from being the rigid cudgel the DA portrays. Section 15A (3) explicitly provides for nuanced, differentiated targets responsive to occupational levels, sub-sectors or regions. Critically, Section 42(4) explicitly permits any employer to 'raise any reasonable ground to justify its failure to comply'. The Act has consistently emphasised the appointment of 'suitably qualified' individuals. Nothing in the Act prohibits the appointment of a candidate from a non-designated group if a diligent, exhaustive search does not find a suitably qualified candidate from a designated group. In practice, the Act operates much like our critical-skills visa process – nuanced, consultative and always mindful of maintaining standards. This inherent flexibility exposes the DA's opposition as ideological warfare rather than a practical critique. Their true grievance is with the erosion of racial privilege. Qualified franchise, swart gevaar This position is not new for the DA. As recently as 1978, 47 years ago, the DA, then called the Progressive Party, championed a qualified franchise for black people over universal adult suffrage or 'one person, one vote'. Revealing – more than it concealed – its contempt for black people, this party, which claims liberal credentials, argued that black people needed to have attained a certain level of education and own property in order to vote. No doubt a strategy to manage the savages. After rebranding as the Democratic Party, it opposed the Labour Relations Act of 1995 and the original Employment Equity Act of 1998 on grounds that these laws offend against 'meritocracy'. You can accuse the DA as you will, but inconsistency in protecting white minority privilege cannot be one of its faults. The DA's dire prophecy that the Act will cripple investment or decimate employment is an old swart gevaar red herring pure and simple. After the original EEA took effect, between 2001 and 2007, South Africa's economy grew between 4.5%-5.5%, while unemployment dropped by 11%, proving that equity policies can coexist with economic expansion. The real drags on investment are challenges such as energy and logistics bottlenecks and crime, not the presence of black African women and men in the C-suite. By selectively championing Section 9(1) of the Constitution (equality) while ignoring the clear mandate of Section 9(2) – the solemn duty to enact measures that advance those historically disadvantaged by unfair discrimination – the DA reveals its true colours. It aligns itself with every white-supremacist argument ever used to defy meaningful change. This constitutional mandate demands decisive, active intervention, not passive hope or transformation on its terms – optional, non-binding and perpetually negotiable. No Bantustan boardrooms The EEAA, fortified by the undeniable truth of the CEE's findings, stands as an indispensable instrument in our protracted struggle to dismantle structural racism, unlock the full spectrum of South African talent and forge an inclusive economy – a boardroom that is not a Bantustan reflecting a 7% minority. We cannot allow the boardrooms of corporate South Africa to remain gated enclaves. The consequences for doing so would be more than symbolic. These are the individuals who shape investment decisions, workplace cultures and corporate governance. If they do not reflect our nation, neither will our economy. Besides, we can forget about social and political stability – something to which the DA either pays lip service or does not appreciate, or both. The DA has no history of genuinely advancing the interests of black people in general, Africans, coloureds and Indians in particular, in our country. Its historic positions are consistent with this latest offensive and an affront to the eradication of the legacy of colonialism and apartheid. South Africans must ask – whose freedom is advanced if the DA wins? Certainly not the coloured engineer passed over because she 'won't fit the culture'. Not the black African professional locked out of a training programme because the boardroom is 'already diverse enough'. The only winners would be those who mistake yesterday's privilege for today's right.
IOL News
06-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Employers gain flexibility in choosing EAP demographics for employment equity plans"
The Department of Employment and Labour is forging ahead with the implementation of the Employment Equity Amendment Act. Image: Leon Lestrade/ Independent Newspapers EMPLOYERS will have the option to use the applicable national or regional Economically Active Population (EAP) population as an instrument when developing employment equity (EE) plans. At a recent EE workshop held in Sandton, Department of Employment and Labour deputy director, Masilo Lefika said employers will have this option when developing EE Plans and setting annual numerical targets in their workplaces. He added that when developing EE Plans and setting annual numerical targets in their workplaces in terms of legislation, designated employers must take into account the workforce profile, the relevant five-year sectoral numerical targets, and the applicable EAP. 'The five-year sectoral numerical targets are key milestones towards achieving the equitable representation of the different designated groups within the four upper occupational levels in an employer's workforce in relation to the demographics of the applicable EAP, and for persons with disabilities,' said Lefika. This comes as the Department is forging ahead with legislative amendments to the Employment Equity Act (EEA). These amendments have their origins in 2019, when the Department, in collaboration with the Commission for Employment Equity (CEE), began sector-specific engagements aimed at setting employment equity (EE) targets. The goal was to accelerate transformation in the workplace. These efforts culminated in the Employment Equity Amendment Act No. 4 of 2022, which officially came into effect on January 1, 2025. However the changes have been met with mixed reactions as the DA has taken government to court to challenge the amendments, while others have raised concerns about applying national targets at the expense of regional demographics. According to Lefika, a designated employer will incur "no penalty or any form of disadvantage if there are reasonable grounds to justify its failure to comply with any target". Trade union federation Cosatu welcomed the option for employers to choose which demographics to apply when setting their targets. 'Cosatu engaged with the Department of Employment and Labour extensively on the 2023 amendments to the Employment Equity Act at Nedlac as well as with Parliament. We support these amendments, in particular the provisions recognising regional demographic diversity and enabling employers to utilise them or national demographics depending on their own footprint as an employer. This is critical as the demographics of Limpopo differ widely from those of the Western and Northern Cape and those differ significantly from KwaZulu-Natal. 'Enabling employers to utilise regional demographics is important to ensure local workers enjoy full worker opportunities and also to ensure workplaces represent South Africa's full diversity. This is especially important for provinces like the Western and Northern Cape where coloured workers are the largest demographic group and similarly in provinces like Gauteng and KZN. Employment equity includes all South Africans, of all racial, gender and disability categories,' Cosatu Parliamentary Coordinator, Matthew Parks said. The National Coloured Congress (NCC), which had called to meet with minister Nomakhosazana Meth over the issue, added that without proper consideration of provincial demographics, it risks the further marginalising of Coloured communities. 'The Constitutional Court has ruled you can't implement national demographics, regionally. All the labour department is doing is making it easier for businesses with vested interests to discriminate. As the custodian of employment equity, the labour department should do its job,' NCC leader, Fadiel Adams said. Cape Times National Coloured Congress (NCC) leader Fadiel Adams. Image: Supplied
IOL News
30-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Helen Zille's remarks on Afrikaner "opportunities" under scrutiny
Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille. Image: Itumeleng English/ Independent Newspapers HELEN Zille has defended her comments that the Afrikaner community "took all opportunities very seriously" and there was "nothing stopping everyone else from following that example" despite backlash. Zille took to X and wrote: 'Afrikaners took all opportunities very seriously. Educated their children into professional skills and out of poverty. Built huge enterprises from the bottom up. Nothing stopping everyone else from following that example.' Many quickly called her out, citing the racist apartheid system. Approached for further comment on Thursday, Zille told the Cape Times: 'Read the history of Afrikaners between 1902 and 1940, in any authoritative history. They started absolutely poverty stricken and economically excluded, and the story of how they changed that in the ensuing three decades is clear. The historical facts of the transition from poverty to prosperity of Afrikaners is well documented in many sources. Taking offence will not change this.' This comes as the DA has turned to court to challenge the Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEAA), which the party believes will repel investors and discriminate against certain races. Her comments also come as the 2025 Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) annual report showed that white people were eight times their Economically Active Population (EAP) at top management, while the black population representation at just 18.0% is four times below their EAP. The statistics contained in the report forms part of the Department of Employment and Labour's basis to forge ahead with legislative amendments despite pushback from opposition parties, in particular the DA. Employment Equity deputy director, Niresh Singh told a recent EE Roadshow in Pietermaritzburg that employers who are not compliant with the Employment Equity Act (EEA) will be excluded from doing business with organs of state. 'Designated employers must comply with Chapters II and III of the Act whereas those not designated have to comply only with Chapter II. They must attach the certificate of compliance which can only be issued by the Minister for a period of 12 months. The certificate can be revoked at any time for failure to comply.' He told the gathering that the certificate of compliance issued by the Minister will only be issued when the minister is satisfied that the employer has complied with the numerical targets in terms of Section 15A relevant to that employer, if the target is not achieved, the employer must have raised a reasonable ground to justify the failure. Singh said Section 53 has been in the Act since 1998 and was not promulgated then. 'And now it is promulgated and will be in force', he said. General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA) president Mametlwe Sebei said it was clear that without any pressure, from the state, 'there's not going to be any de-racialisation of the workplace".
IOL News
28-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
GNU's ‘clearing house' called into question
DA Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille said the party will challenge the Expropriation Act. Image: Itumeleng English/ Independent Newspapers The Government of National Unity's (GNU) Clearing House Mechanism, established to resolve policy disagreements within the 10-member coalition, has been questioned over its effectiveness by the DA and Rise Mzantsi. Despite the mechanism's efforts to address disputes, the DA has continued to raise issues separately, including its latest challenge to the Expropriation Act, specifically the issue of nil compensation. Recently, DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille described the GNU clearing house mechanism as a "waste of time," stating that it does not work and "everyone acknowledges its ineffectiveness". "What we need is a mechanism in the GNU to implement clauses 19 and 18 (in the terms of reference). We do not need to renegotiate the laws of the game or anything; what we need is mechanisms that implement the statement of intent," Zille said. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading The DA has launched several court challenges since its inclusion in the GNU, including a challenge to the Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEAA) and the Expropriation Act. The party argues that these laws are unconstitutional and will negatively impact the economy. The DA's lawyers will appear in the North Gauteng High Court to challenge the EEAA, which the party believes will repel investors and discriminate against certain races. The party's Federal Council has also passed a motion supporting Section 25 of the Constitution, which states that compensation for expropriated property must be "just and equitable" as determined by a court of law. The DA will pursue a constitutional challenge to the Expropriation Act in the High Court, arguing that it poses a direct threat to the rights enshrined in the Constitution and undermines the country's investment climate. Rise Mzansi spokesperson Mabine Seabe said his party would like to see the Clearing House Mechanism terms of reference finalised, so that the body has full effect. 'The body is only as good as the terms of reference and the goodwill of the signatories to the Statement of Intent. We will continue working through all fora to ensure that South Africa is a better place in 2029 than it is today,' Seabe said. The Good Party's Brett Herron said the Clearing House had only dealt with one substantive dispute - on the implementation of the BELA Act - which was raised by the DA in the first Clearing House meeting. 'Although we dealt with the BELA Act it was not, in our view, a matter that was appropriately brought to the Clearing House. The dispute should've arisen in the GNU cabinet or between the Party Leaders and then be referred to the Clearing House as a dispute resolution mechanism,' Herron said. 'The Expropriation Act has already been passed by the last parliament and signed into law by the President. It's a product of another election mandate. 'If the DA wants to persuade the GNU parties to amend policy on expropriation it should raise the issue in the cabinet or the GNU party leaders forum and if their proposal leads to a dispute or cannot be resolved there, then it could be referred to the Clearing House,' he said. Herron further said the Clearing House was not the place for the DA to reopen debate on policies and laws that it had already lost. Despite the parties' skepticism, the GNU Clearing House Mechanism, led by deputy president Paul Mashatile, has made efforts to address disputes within the GNU. The mechanism held its inaugural meeting on October 16, 2024, where it welcomed the draft Terms of Reference and agreed to finalise them in the next meeting. The meeting was convened by Mashatile, who emphasised the importance of resolving policy disagreements within the GNU. Political analyst Dr John Molepo said the effectiveness of the GNU Clearing House Mechanism remains to be seen. 'While this mechanism has provided a platform for discussion and resolution of disputes, the DA's continued court challenges raise questions about its ability to address the complex issues at hand,' he said. Mashatile's acting spokesperson was unavailable for comment on Tuesday. Cape Times
