An unemployed man holds up a placard at a traffic intersection. Minister Thulas Nxesi argues that designated groups under Employement Equity remain grossly under-represented post-1994. Picture: Nic Bothma / EPA
By Thulas Nxesi MP, Minister of Employment and Labour
The DA press release announcing their march last week claims that the ANC is “racialising work opportunities”. We have news for them: work in South Africa has been racialised for centuries.
Have they not heard of Job Reservation?
Unfortunately, the advent of democracy in 1994 did not lead automatically to a change in the established racial hierarchy in the workplace. For example, 62.9% of top management positions are still held by whites (representing less than 10% of the population), whilst the designated groups – blacks (African, Coloured and Indian), women and people with disabilities are grossly under-represented.
The Employment Equity Act was passed in 1998 exactly to fulfil the constitutional mandate to encourage equal opportunities in the workplace where black people, women and people with disabilities continue to be under-represented at the higher levels of the workforce.
The EEA encourages employers to set flexible targets to move towards employment equity. Socially responsible employers complied. Most did not. This is reflected in the annual reports of the Commission for Employment Equity which indicate a painfully slow rate of change. It was for this reason that, earlier this year, 2023, the President signed into law the Employment Equity Amendment Act.
The Amendments empower the minister to set flexible employment equity targets in the different economic sectors, which take into account local and provincial demographics, the circumstances of individual employers and reasonable justification as to why they would not be able to achieve the targets. But only after full consultation with all parties involved.
Employers are incentivised to comply by making doing business with the state and government entities dependent upon the possession of an employment equity certificate.
The Amendments also reduce the burden of reporting on smaller companies (employing less than 50).
I need to flag that the original EEA and the recent Amendments followed the usual Parliamentary processes and full consultations, where all parties were able to argue their point of view, followed by a vote.
The DA and far right were unable to convince a majority that their laissez faire approach to equal opportunities in the workplace, effectively entrenching the present racial hierarchy, was the way to go. That’s democracy.
But what is unforgivable is the deliberate misrepresentation of the legislation by the DA and their return to the ‘swart gevaar’ tactics of the past: telling whites, Indians and Coloureds that the Africans are coming to take their jobs. This is simply not true.
The Constitution, the Employment Equity Act, and the Labour Relations Act do not allow any employer to dismiss or terminate a contract of employment or retrench any employee, whether from the black or white community, to make space for the implementation of affirmative action or the sector Employment Equity targets.
Don’t take my word for it. Read what the experts have to say: for example, UCT legal academic, Pierre de Vos. Also read Sandile July and Nonkosazana Nkosi of Werksman Attorneys in their article titled ‘Jobs unlikely to be lost when applying employment equity targets’ published on 5 June 2023.
They both reject these claims by the DA.
South Africa has another – more honourable tradition – that of negotiation and social dialogue. We saw this in action this year, when government and the trade union Solidarity signed a Settlement Agreement following a dispute over Employment Equity.
The Agreement recognizes the important temporary role that Employment Equity legislation plays, and at the same time clarifies the rights and protections, which exist for all workers regardless of race.
Incidentally, this was the first time the International Labour Organization’s domestic dispute resolution mechanism had been successfully utilized by any of the member states. It also reaffirmed the effectiveness of our own CCMA (Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) in settling disputes.
The negotiations with Solidarity were a learning curve for all of us. As government we saw that there are real insecurities out there, misinformation and misunderstanding. We are determined to address this. Currently we are holding Employment Equity roadshows in every province – explaining to employers and workers how the legislation works, and what their rights are.
We are currently busy considering the public comments on the proposed sector Employment Equity targets and we intend to re-publish the proposed sector EE targets for further public comment to extend and strengthen the consultation process before the final sector Employment Equity targets are published for implementation.
The dead hand of apartheid racial hierarchy still lies heavy across the South African workplace.
In its drive for employment equity in the workplace, the ANC government seeks to inform, educate and unite people. The objective here is free and equal access to employment opportunities, irrespective of race, gender or disability.
We can accept nothing less.
* Thulas Nxesi is the Minister of Employment and Labour of South Africa.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.