DA challenges Employment Equity Amendment Act in court: A fight for job security in South Africa

DA’s Federal chairperson Helen Zille believes the proposed Employment Equity Amendment Act would drive more people out of jobs. 

Zille, who was addressing journalists ahead of the DA’s court case against the proposed Act, said South Africa needs jobs and growth - not race-based laws that block employment opportunities. 

She said this would drive unemployment up and further decline the economy.

In a move that could further strain the Government of National Unity (GNU), the party approached the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to challenge the constitutionality of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, which introduces rigid national race quotas in the workplace. 

The party believes this will destroy jobs, undermine the economy, and violate the constitutional rights of all South Africans. 

The matter is expected to be heard tomorrow. 

This is the latest court action by the party after it recently challenged the proposed VAT rate hike in court last week.

The party’s main partner in the GNU, the ANC, criticised the move and accused the DA of being anti-transformation. 

This was after it was reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa said he wanted the DA to explain what grudge they have against transformation, while ANC secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, reportedly said the DA’s opposition to transformation was evident through this court application.

 Addressing the media, Zille said the DA is not in the GNU to impress the ANC, adding that the party wanted South Africa to succeed. 

Zille said the party is ready to begin an argument tomorrow to ensure fair access to jobs and employment for all South Africans. 

She said her party stands for rational policy reforms, creating jobs, and growing the economy.

Zille added that race quotas are unconstitutional barriers to the country’s economic growth. 

She added that this matter was not new, adding that the court action started more than two years ago, during the 6th Parliament, when the DA argued that the Employment Equity Amendment  Act discriminates unfairly and unconstitutionally. 

“While Section 9.2 of the Constitution allows fair discrimination to achieve redress, such discrimination has to meet the benchmark of fairness set out in Section 9. This draconian amendment Act falls far short of this benchmark,” she said.

Zille said it was grossly unfair and gave totalitarian powers of social engineering to the Minister of Labour, who would be able to set rigid national targets for every economic sector, without any regard to the context of specific firms, and impose extremely heavy fines and the risk of criminal conviction for failure to meet them.

“This can no longer be classified as a target. It amounts to an enabling law for the minister to set rigid quotas, which have previously been found by our courts to be unconstitutional.

“If this law is enacted, for example, people belonging to a specific group concentrated in a geographical area could face exclusion from employment based on national quotas set by the minister,” she said. 

Zille said the DA is committed to redressing the millions of South Africans who remain economically excluded due to the legacy of “our painful past”. 

She said the party believes the most effective redress is a job. 

“The ANC’s Employment Equity regime continues the bitter legacy of the past because it is one of the key factors driving our country’s skyrocketing unemployment rate. In 2008, unemployment (on the expanded definition) was 5.5 million. By last year, it had doubled to 11.1 million,” said Zille. 

She added that the draconian labour regime created by the Employment Equity Amendment Act would continue to drive away investment and predictably increase unemployment.

“Companies and potential investors have repeatedly cited these social engineering laws as major barriers to investment and growth. It is completely senseless to knowingly intensify a discriminatory regime that has already failed so spectacularly to empower economically marginalised people

“This is what the evidence demonstrates. And that is why we will continue to oppose policies keeping millions of people in poverty.”

She said racial quotas are dehumanising and unjust, adding that they reduce people to statistics, ignoring talent and effort.

“The DA also has a technical challenge to the Employment Amendment Act, which is that it was incorrectly tagged under Section 75 of the Constitution. This Act will profoundly affect different provinces and therefore should have been tagged under Section 76 of the Constitution,” she said.

She was echoed by the party’s spokesperson on employment and labour, Michael Bagraim, who said the DA was fighting for opportunity based on merit, not race. 

“The DA is fighting for a non-racial, inclusive democracy where every South African has fair access to jobs. Race-based laws are divisive and stringent to economic growth,” he said.

 Attempts to get a comment from the ANC were unsuccessful at the time of publication.

manyane.manyane@inl.co.za