- The new employment equity quotas will destroy jobs and undermine economic growth.
- The DA’s court challenge argues these quotas are unconstitutional and enforce unfair discrimination.
- True transformation comes through creating jobs, not imposing rigid government-mandated quotas.
The DA condemns the coming into effect of the new employment equity reporting regulations today. South African businesses need to be free to grow and create jobs, rather than being forced to implement divisive, race-based quotas on behalf of the Minister of Employment and Labour.
We are confident that our court challenge will stop the Minister’s social engineering experiment in its tracks, protecting South Africans’ freedom to work where they want and achieve transformation through inclusive growth.
While other court challenges have taken issue with the regulations, the strength of the DA’s court case lies in the Employment Equity Amendment Act’s violation of Section 9 of the Constitution, which prohibits unfair discrimination.
Minister Meth’s new rigid quotas do not take into account the realities of individual firms, nor do they consider that South Africans want to be employed because of their skills and talents, not because of the colour of their skin. In addition, her regulations may force South Africans to classify themselves racially.
We have already made it clear that we oppose any attempts to introduce a “race register” by stealth, in our oversights to the Deeds Office.
The regulations set up businesses to face penalties that will bankrupt them if they don’t comply. But complying with the quotas will make it impossible for anyone who doesn’t fit the minister’s target to keep a job.
Does the Minister expect people who do not fit her draconian targets to be fired? If not, how does she expect businesses to comply?
The most effective form of redress is a job. The new employment equity amendment is a job-killer and will deprive millions of South Africans of their chance to achieve that form of redress.
Minister Meth does not have the information or the capacity to micromanage the economy, telling which firms who they can hire and where. That’s precisely why she should stay out of it.
This is why the DA has taken Minister Meth to court and will continue to fight for the repeal of her unconstitutional amendments to the Employment Equity Act that give effect to these regulations.