The DA is to apply this week to the high court in Pretoria for a declaration that various sections of the Employment Equity Amendment Act are unconstitutional and invalid. If it succeeds, the regulations issued under the act will also be invalid.
The DA’s opposition is supported by Solidarity and about 30 other political parties and civic organisations, which on Tuesday held a workshop and signed a resolution to fight the act.
The legislation allows the employment & labour minister Thulas Nxesi to set employment equity targets for specific economic sectors and to prescribe demographic targets for employers with more than 50 employees. Companies seeking to do business with the government will need a certificate of compliance from the department.
In setting the targets, the minister must consult with the relevant sector stakeholders and take advice from the Commission for Employment Equity.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said the DA will demonstrate in its court submission that the term “numerical targets” is a misnomer and that, in reality, the act sets rigid racial quotas for four job levels across 18 economic sectors.
“The act empowers the minister to determine quotas that specify the particular demographic composition that designated employers must achieve, on pain of severe penalties including the inability to do business with the state, the cancellation of existing state contracts, compelling orders, and fines. These quotas amount to job reservation based on race on a scale last seen before 1994,” the DA leader said in a statement on Tuesday.
No flexibility
“The scheme violates the constitutional rights to equality, to freedom of trade, occupation and profession, as well as the original Employment Equity Act’s own prohibition on quotas.”
Steenhuisen said the amended act provides no flexibility to employers to determine what is feasible in their own business environment. Instead, it centralises power in the hands of one minister to dictate the racial composition of workplaces countrywide.
“In some provinces and sectors, it sets the quota for coloured and Indian South Africans at 0.0% and 0.1%. In other cases, such as in the Northern Cape, companies would be in violation of the law if it employs ‘too many’ black women,” Steenhuisen said.
He warned that the law would lead to mass job losses, accelerate capital and skills flight and contribute to unemployment and poverty. It was found in research by the Solidarity Research Institute that thousands of members of minorities will have to vacate their jobs.
The department could not be contacted for comment but it is likely to oppose the DA application.
In a recent media statement the department said the purpose of the amended act is to achieve equity in the workplace by promoting equal opportunities and fair treatment in employment through the elimination of unfair discrimination; and the implementation of affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups, namely black people, women and people with disabilities.
Not quotas
“For sustainable growth and development, it is important that workplaces reasonably reflect the national and provincial demographics of the economically active population of the country, both in the public and the private sectors,” the department said.
“Sector employment equity targets are not quotas as employers still maintain powers to determine their own annual employment equity targets towards achieving the regulated five-year sector targets.
“We are not surprised that the DA and the Solidarity trade inion are opposed to the employment equity amendments and sector employment equity targets because they tend to be against any legislation, policy or efforts to transform the economic landscape of the country.”
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