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DTIC CONSULTATIONS KICK OFF FOR SECTORAL EQUITY TARGETS

BEE NEWS

Linda Ensor | 13 January 2025

DTIC Consultations Begin: Sectoral Equity Targets with BEE Chamber Insights

Act stipulates an employment equity compliance certificate will be a prerequisite for doing business.


The department of trade, industry & competition has invited various industries for consultations on proposed numerical equity targets for the different economic sectors.


Employers, however, say the consultations will be meaningless unless they are provided with the proposed targets so they can adequately prepare. 


The proposed targets have been formulated in terms of the Employment Equity Amendment Act — signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa in April 2023 — which provides that the minister must set numerical targets for each economic sector to achieve the equitable representation of people from designated groups, namely historically disadvantaged people based on race, gender and disability at all occupational levels in the workforce.  


The aim is to address underrepresentation of the designated groups in the workforce in relation to the economically active population. Employers will be required to comply with their own set annual employment equity targets towards the achievement of the five-year sector targets.


The act stipulates that an employment equity compliance certificate will be a prerequisite for doing business with any organ of state and securing state contracts. 


National Employers’ Association of SA (Neasa) CEO Gerhard Papenfus said in a statement on Monday that the association was actively preparing to launch legal action against any draft or final regulations and targets the department published and would explore all avenues to protect employers from “this devastating legislation”. 


Sakeliga is also planning a legal challenge to what it says is “an irrational, harmful and unconstitutional act”, which employment & labour minister Nomakhosazana Meth said would take effect from January 1 2025. Sakeliga does not believe the state has the capacity to enforce the legislation.


Papenfus said that during December, including on Christmas Day, when the majority of private entities were closed, the department started inviting all industries to attend consultations to discuss the proposed numerical sector targets. The cut-off date for registration was Monday, though Papenfuss noted that many companies  resume operations only on January 15. 


But, he noted, the sectors had not been provided with the proposed targets and how they were arrived at. “It is practically impossible for stakeholders or employers to prepare for a consultation without having knowledge of what the proposed targets are. 


“The department apparently plans to consult with entire sectors within very brief time slots (60-90 minutes) — quite simply an impossible endeavour. Neasa believes that these sessions will not be consultations in any sense of the word, but that the department is going to merely inform the sectors of decisions that have already been made as a ‘tickbox’ exercise,” Papenfus said.  


Former employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi published draft employment equity regulations and numerical sectoral targets in 2024, but Neasa threatened legal action if the department failed to follow the prescribed legislative process as the relevant section of the act was not yet in operation. 


‘Disclaimer - The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’.



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