Sakeliga rejects the Employment Equity Amendment Act and is preparing the requisite litigation.
The Amendment Act, signed on 6 April 2023 by President Cyril Ramaphosa, purports to allow government to prescribe demographic quotas to private employers, regardless of whether they do business with the state. That the prescriptions will, for now, be limited to companies with 50 or more employees, is no cause for comfort, since it amounts merely to the piecemeal introduction of a fundamentally unacceptable policy eventually to be extended to employers at lower thresholds.
Sakeliga is preparing litigation against the Amendment Act and will liaise with other organisations also doing so. The legal process will likely be a drawn-out matter. For now, no regulations have been published to give effect to the Act.
In the meantime, Sakeliga encourages employers to maintain value-focussed employment regardless of race, rather than complying with fundamentally unconstitutional and harmful legislation.
We reiterate our position that it is businesses’ constitutional duty to oppose harmful state interference in the public interest.