Cape Town - DA leader John Steenhuisen has come under fire from the ANC and the GOOD Party following his party’s march in Cape Town to protest amendments to the Employment Equity Act which it describes as “the ANC’s new race quotas.”
The Employment Equity Amendment Bill, which has measures to promote diversity and equality in the workplace was signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa in April.
The bill paves the way for the employment and labour minister to, among others, identify and set employment equity numerical targets for each economic sector.
But the DA has joined trade union Solidarity to mount a legal action in court to stop what it says is a “draconian race-based Act”.
Steenhuisen led the march to Parliament, which he described as a “crime scene.”
He was joined by party leaders including federal chairperson Ivan Meyer, provincial leader Tertuis Simmers, Joburg caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku as many as 500 supporters.
Steenhuisen said South Africa was in the midst of the world’s biggest unemployment crisis, where 70% of young people, many of them graduates, cannot find work.
“There are now more South Africans who are forced to survive on meagre grants of R350 a month than there are people who work and earn a decent salary.
“And what is the ANC national government’s response to the unemployment and food crisis that threatens the survival of millions of South Africans?
“They introduce a Race Quotas Act that could cost up to 600 000 jobs and kill any hopes of increased investment or economic growth.”
ANC provincial economic opportunities and finance spokesperson Nobulumko Nkondlo said the amendments remained necessary to address racial and gender injustice.
Nkondlo said the South African labour market system was skewed towards white men and slow to transform.
She pointed to the Provincial Treasury 2021/2022 Annual Report which shows the department’s and entities’ regression on its equity profile.
“It is in this department that for months a coloured female, a deputy director-general, was acting head of department for months, and when it was time to fill this vacancy, the provincial treasury went and appointed a white male. This was a missed opportunity to enable upward mobility and succession for those with institutional memory.”
Nkondlo said the DA campaign was “fear tactics electioneering in desperation for coloured votes in the Western Cape.”
GOOD secretary-general and MP Brett Herron said the DA was once again showing its true colours as a white elitist party.
Herron said in a country experiencing an employment crisis, it was reckless for a political leader to make unfounded allegations that 600 000 currently employed South Africans stood to lose their jobs based on the colour of their skin.
“John Steenhuisen, embodies unearned privilege and inequality in South Africa.
“He is an unqualified white male, who earns in the top 10% of South Africa’s salaries.”
Herron said affirmative action to right historical exclusions and mitigate irrational bias in the employment space was not unique to South Africa.
He said while the act and regulations were not perfect, the glaring inequalities in workspaces needed to be addressed
He said the latest reports by the Commission for Employment Equity and Statistics SA painted a painful picture of exclusion from the economy nearly three decades after apartheid.
“Despite only making up 8% of the country’s economically active population, 62.9% of top management positions in the country are occupied by white employees.
“The rate of unemployment among white South Africans is 9.4% compared with 47.3% for blacks.”
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za