Picture: The ANC flag/Google
By OBAKENG MAJE
The ANC has disputed allegations made by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that, it has put in place race quotas, banning coloured population group from being employed in certain provinces. Last week, the DA leader, John Steenhuisen said they were appalled by the draft Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEA) regulations published for comment over the weekend.
Steenhuisen further said, the regulations set out racial employment quotas across eighteen economic sectors and across all nine provinces. He added that this will affect every part of the South African economy.
“The regulations apply to all companies with more than 50 employees. They signal a new low for the ANC government, constituting a naked attempt to expand state control over the economy, deepen social divisions and ban certain communities from employment in particular sectors and parts of the country.
“The social perversion created by these targets constitutes a clear and urgent threat to the social fabric of South Africa. The implication is that, companies operating in certain parts of the country are banned from employing even a single coloured or Indian person in a particular position,” said Steenhuisen.
He said if companies defy these regulations, they will be severely punished by being disqualified from government contracts or doing business with the state. According to Steenhuisen, the quotas seem especially targeted at the groups defined by the regulations as “coloured males,” “coloured females,” “Indian males” and “Indian females.”
“People from these communities suffered discrimination under the previous regime, and now they are being re-victimised by a democratic government that has learnt all the wrong lessons from the past. In sectors like agriculture, forestry and fisheries, mining and quarrying, manufacturing, finance, arts, and science, the “targets” set for coloured employees in provinces like Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West is 0.0%, effectively banning these groups from employment.
“Even in Gauteng, the country’s economic heartland, employment by people classified by the state as coloured is sometimes limited to below 1%. In the case of employees classified by the state as Indian, the targets are often as low as 0.1% across economic sectors,” he said.
Steenhuisen said, for the ANC, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and even certain sectors in Gauteng are now “no-go zones” for coloured and Indian South Africans seeking employment. He said the DA maintains that the EEA is the most dangerous piece of racial engineering the country has seen since the dawn of democracy.
Meanwhile, the ANC national spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said: “The ANC has noted propaganda by the DA that the ruling party is advancing crude race politics. The propaganda suggests that the ANC is promoting new race laws that suggest, which prohibit the employment of specific racial groups in certain provinces and sectors. The ANC rejects this notion with contempt.
“Such a policy would be inconsistent with the entire ethos of the ANC, particularly the pursuit of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR), which seeks to democratise our society and all spheres of the economy including the labour market.”
Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC-led liberation movement has always been consistent in its pursuit of a non-racial and just society. She said, building a non-racial labour market is a fundamental aspect of the NDR.
“It is high time political parties across the right-wing spectrum desist from using race politics as a means of fear-mongering, instead they must reverse cultures of racial denialism.
“Our constitution and the Freedom Charter are emphatic that South Africa can only succeed if it dismantles systemic racism and accelerates the pace of action towards a National Democratic Society. We are confident that the employment equity act as amended is consistent with our constitution and will help us transform the labour market and ultimately society,” said Bhengu-Motsiri.
The Guardian 