Tripartite Alliance pours cold water on DA's 'grudge with transformation'

Eyewitness News

02-05-2025

JOHANNESBURG – The Democratic Alliance (DA)'s decision to take the government to court over the Employment Equity Act has irked the tripartite alliance, which has now collectively hit out at the second biggest party in the Government of National Unity (GNU).
This week, the DA approached the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to challenge a new gazette by the Minister of Employment and Labour meant to speed up transformation in some industries.
The regulations set out specific racial and gender-based targets for businesses across 18 industries in South Africa to achieve over the next five years.
The African National Congress (ANC), South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) responded to the DA's move during a Workers' Day, Thursday, rally in Mpumalanga.
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SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila, who is no fan of the GNU, was the first to point out the conflicting agenda of some parties in the multiparty coalition, citing differences over transformation policies.
'The reactionary forces that want to say they support our movement are fighting against this. They are also fighting against the introduction of the Basic Education Law Amendment Act.'
On the sidelines of the Workers' Day rally, ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa said this about the DA's legal contestation of the Employment Equity Act.
'I haven't heard their full complaint, but I would like them to come and explain to me what grudge they have with transformation.'
Although COSATU says the DA is well within its constitutional right, the trade union federation believes the move is ill-conceived.
'The Employment Equity Act is nearly as old as our hard-won democracy and stood the test of time, including previous court reviews. It is peculiar that the DA's court challenge omits to acknowledge the well-considered 2023 amendments to the Employment Equity Act,' COSATU's Parliamentary Coordinator, Matthew Parks, said earlier in the week.'These amendments sought, after extensive engagements between labour and business at Nedlac and similar public hearings at Parliament, to strike a fair balance between easing administrative burdens on SMMEs, reflecting South Africa's demographic diversity (including regional), and equally to nudge employers to do better to ensure all employees have a fair chance to fulfil their full potential, in particular those historically denied equal opportunity.
'These changes include easing reporting requirements on SMMEs (Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises), adapting employment equity targets to take into account our regional demographic diversity and to adopt more focused targets for sectors falling painfully behind employment equity progress. The Regulations provide ample time, e.g. five years and modest targets, well below population demographics, for employers to work towards. As with all laws, exemptions are provided for employers who have tried but for a variety of reasons, cannot achieve their targets.'