SOUTH AFRICA’S NEW EMPLOYMENT EQUITY TARGETS FACE ANOTHER MAJOR LEGAL BATTLE
- BEE NEWS
- Sep 23
- 3 min read
Staff Writer | 22 September 2025
Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) is the next business interest group to take on the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) over its sectoral employment equity targets.
The targets came into effect from 1 September 2025, requiring all businesses in South Africa, employing more than 50 people, to work out a five-year plan to make their workforces demographically representative.
The targets prescribe a set percentage of representation in the workforce, requiring businesses to restructure accordingly.
The department set out specific numerical targets across 18 industries in South Africa that businesses must fill with ‘designated employees’.
These designated groups include black (African, Coloured and Indian), female and disabled workers.
For example, after five years, businesses in the accommodation and food service sector should have 56.7% of top management be from these ‘designated groups’—38.1% of which should be female.
The same industry should have 78.3% of senior management reflect these groups. 84.7% of professional and middle-management positions and 95.9% of skilled technical employees should also reflect individuals from designated groups.
The targets were announced in April 2025 and have already been challenged legally by business lobby Sakeliga and the National Employers Association of South Africa (Neasa).
While the groups have failed in their first court bid to stop the targets from being implemented, they are now trying to get the matter directly to the Constitutional Court.
BUSA’s legal challenge will now add to the pile of legal proceedings.
However, unlike Sakeliga and Neasa, BUSA does not oppose the Employment Equity Act or the targets in principle, but is homing in on the DEL’s implementation.
Specifically, the group said it has been forced to go the legal route to challenge the targets because the department’s consultations with stakeholders ended up being performative, ignoring glaring issues raised.
“In BUSA’s view, the current sector targets are fatally flawed both substantively and procedurally. If allowed to stand, they risk undermining the very goal of an inclusive, transformed economy,” it said.
Performative consultation with business
The group said it had tried to engage with the department in good faith, but what was supposed to be a meaningful consultation ended up as a “presentation” and “performative engagement”.
It said it raised several issues with the targets and the laws, which were simply left unresolved by the department. These included:
Limited consultation time: Employers were given less than a week to respond; most received draft targets the night before meetings, which lasted only an hour.
Insufficient information on methodology: The DEL has failed to provide sufficient explanation for how it calculated the targets or the demographic assumptions used. For example, the EE disability target was raised to 3% without DEL providing sufficient supporting data or adequately explaining how this figure was reached, despite acknowledging the lack of disability statistics.
Insufficient sectoral analysis: Limited assessment conducted to determine whether targets were achievable across industry-specific realities.
Conflicting compliance frameworks: The targets are not aligned with B-BBEE sector codes, creating regulatory confusion.
One-size-fits-all targets: DEL’s refusal to differentiate among subsectors ignores operational, geographic, and structural diversity.
“Poorly developed targets risk damaging vital sectors of the economy. If targets are unrealistic or not based on the skills available in each sector, companies may find themselves unable to comply,” BUSA said.
“This creates uncertainty and weakens the integrity of the regulatory process, ultimately undermining the transformation and inclusion that the Employment Equity Act is meant to achieve.”
The business group stressed that it was not trying to undermine the EEA or to work against sectoral transformation. It added that it continues to work with the government to address these issues.
However, it said that rushed, opaque, and procedurally irregular processes not only fail the test of legality but also work against transformation by making compliance impractical and unenforceable.
“The need for transformation is urgent, but urgency must not become recklessness,” it said.
“We’re acting now to protect the credibility of equity policy. Unworkable targets do not advance transformation. They deepen frustration and erode trust in public policy.”
‘Disclaimer - The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’.