Lungile Ntimba
Deputy Director of Employment Equity (EE) at the Labour department, Niresh Singh, has called for more to be done in order to assist African, Coloured and women-owned businesses and transform the economic landscape of the country.
Singh addressed the Employment Equity workshop conducted in partnership with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) held at Olive Convention Centre in Durban on Wednesday, under the theme of “Bridging the Equity Gap Through Diversity & Inclusion”.
The main focus of the workshop was on the EE Act amendments Bill that President Cyril Ramaphosa had signed into law last year.
Singh said there cannot be excuses such as “it’s a family business” when it comes to EE implementation as business needs transformation and women to thrive, and appealed to employers to avail opportunities to South Africans.
He said when it comes to implementation of the EE Act, the government, especially at top level management was doing better than the private sector, but that the reality was illustrative of broader societal challenges.
“Gender representation reflects a situation where males were living in skyscrapers, whereas females were living in shacks,” Singh said, while pointing out that the proclamation notice date for commencement of EE Act amendments is still pending.
The EE amendment bill proposed the introduction of sector targets to effect transformation; the amendment of Section 53 for employers doing business with the State to comply with EE Act; the receipt of a certificate of compliance; not have unfair discrimination cases with CCMA for the past 12 months and comply with the National Minimum Wage Act.
Singh denied that the proposed EE targets are quotas, and said that once the commencement date is signed into law there will be a transitional phase in order to prepare effective compliance.
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