By Thebe Mabanga
The Democratic Alliance has launched a constitutional challenge against a section of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, arguing that it violates South African workers’ rights.
The matter will be heard in North Gauteng High Court on 6 May.
DA MP and spokesperson on labour and employment Michael Bagraim said in a statement that the party was taking Employment and Labour Minister Makhosazana Meth to court to challenge Section 15A of the Act.
The section empowers the minister to set sector-specific numerical targets for employment equity.
Government argues that this aims to ensure equitable representation of previously disadvantaged groups including black people, women, the youth and persons living with disabilities.
However, the DA argues that the quotas will destroy jobs, undermine the economy and violate the constitutional rights of all South Africans.
“We are taking the Minister of Employment and Labour to court because Section 15A represents a radical and harmful departure from previous employment equity law.” said Bagraim.
“Where companies once set their own equity goals based on context and the available labour force, they are now compelled to meet government-imposed demographic targets, regardless of skills, local realities or business viability.”
The party says it wants to test the constitutional validity of the section, as it violates Section 9 of the Constitution which prohibits unfair discrimination as well as well as challenge ministerial powers, which it describes as “vague, unchecked and dangerously broad”.
The DA points out that if the quotas are applied as proposed, without consideration for local conditions, they will severely disadvantage any minority group that has a large concentration in the area such as coloured people in the Western Cape or Indian people in KwaZulu-Natal.
“The DA’s position is clear,” said Bagraim. “Every law must be judged on whether it grows the economy and creates jobs. These quotas fail that test spectacularly.”
Employment equity has always been a vexed issue for the DA. In 2013, when an earlier version of the legislation was first introduced and the DA voted in its favour, the then DA leader Helen Zille said the party had “dropped the ball” and made a mistake by voting for it after criticism by figures including former party leader Tony Leon.
The minister and department of labour could not be reached for comment
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