Latest news with #EmploymentEquityAmendmentAct4
IOL News
27-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
MPs raise concern over slow transformation in top management across sectors
Members of Parliament who sit on the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour have raised concern about the slow pace of transformation at management levels across all business sectors. Image: Armand Hough Independent Newspapers The Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour has raised alarm over the slow pace of transformation in top management across all sectors, saying the latest Employment Equity (EE) report confirms that voluntary compliance with transformation laws has failed. The committee was recently briefed on the Department of Employment and Labour's 2024 progress report, which analysed 29 269 quality EE reports, covering a total workforce of 7.7 million employees. According to the committee, the report reveals stark disparities in transformation at the top. Nationally, whites continue to dominate top management positions, making up 61.1%. Africans follow at 18%, Indians at 11.9%, Coloureds at 6.2%, and foreign nationals at 2.8%. 'Voluntary compliance with employment equity provisions has not worked,' said committee chairperson Boyce Maneli. 'The report vindicates the committee's long-held view. However, we are comforted that section 15A of the Employment Equity Amendment Act 4 of 2022 seeks to enforce compliance in line with the Constitution and international conventions.' 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 ✕ The figures are particularly stark in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and Free State, where the proportion of whites in top management positions is 56%, 54%, and 54% respectively. Maneli also emphasised the need to review the employment of foreign nationals. 'With the highest number of unemployment, jobs at semi-skilled and unskilled levels must be given to South Africans, especially those who are registered on the unemployment database of the department,' he said. 'Where foreign nationals are employed in terms of scarce skills, a skills transfer plan must be demonstrated.' He said the committee would engage the Portfolio Committees on Home Affairs and Trade, Industry and Competition in a joint meeting to further address this issue. The reaffirmation of the need for enforcement comes amid growing opposition to the Employment Equity Amendment Act. Last month, the National Employers' Association of South Africa (NEASA) and Sakeliga filed a legal challenge against the Act and its regulations. They argued that the numerical sector targets amount to unconstitutional racial quotas and pose a threat to business autonomy.
IOL News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Government of National Unity disputes should not find home in courts
Lawyers for the DA were in court last week to challenge the amendments to the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, introduced by the Employment Equity Amendment Act 4 of 2022. When coalition partners fail to resolve their disputes internally, courts should not be battlegrounds for political differences, argues the writer. Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers GAUTENG High Court Judge President Dustan Mlambo was on to something with the directive that compels mandatory mediation in civil matters before opting to have a judge presiding over the case. Of course the directive has not gone unchallenged by some in the legal fraternity who believe that among other things, such an instruction makes accessing the courts difficult. Judge Mlambo's move is informed by the fact that most of the civil matters that are allocated to a judge get settled on the day they are to be heard, meaning that judges spend hours preparing for a case only for it to be settled. This takes away the time they could have spent reducing the alarming backlog. As of February 2025, the Division's Civil Trial roll has trial dates issued as far ahead as 2031. Now, with the DA and the ANC unable to resolve their Government of National Unity (GNU) disputes, perhaps the courts should start following Judge Mlambo's lead and consider how they will deal with the political bickering that should be settled politically in the first place. The VAT hike court case is a good reference point. A full bench presided over the case only for parties to reach a settlement. When political coalition partners fail to reach consensus on basic issues, courts should not be dragged into the battleground. The establishment of the GNU will mark a year in the coming weeks, yet not a single contentious matter has this coalition government resolved internally without threats of litigation. It then begs the question, how can there be a functioning government when the parties forming the government are more in courtrooms than in communities where citizens long to have basic services delivered? The absence or failure to use whatever internal dispute resolution mechanisms that exist means that our courts effectively run the country. What does this make of the GNU when every decision that is made ends up before the courts? It simply proves what the coalition government critics have maintained; that the idea of the GNU was never intended to advance the country in the first place. Rather it was an attempt to stop an ANC faction from removing President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal. Whatever may have been the case, the GNU has not done much to disprove that narrative.
