MINISTER THREATENS TO PUNISH EMPLOYMENT EQUITY OFFENDERS

Following the release of the 10th annual report of the Commission of Employment Equity late during July 2010, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said that the time had possibly come to introduce employment equity quotas and increasing fines for non-compliance. ‘We want a punitive clause in the law, .........You are criminalised " full stop" because you are breaking the law ` he said.

He also said the Labour Department, in the short term, had decided not to `name and shame` offending employers because of particular provisions in the Act but he wanted to remove those. Without giving detail, the Minister said that if employers continued to fail to comply with employment equity laws then workers were going to revolt.

Mdladlana also said that he was encouraged by what he had seen during the FIFA World Cup where all people were seen as human beings and treated as such. He stressed employment equity was not only about race, but also about affirming women and disabled.
Mpho Nkeli, the acting Chairperson of the Commission of Employment Equity (CEE) said that employment equity had been talked about for a long time, even before the enactment of the Employment Equity Act, but little positive progress had been made. ` It was time to do things differently `
   
She said the CEE had redefined the name, shame and praise process, which will come into effect during 2011. The details were not public yet, but the aim was to make it a lot more robust. The newly formed President’s BEE Council will be informed highlighting the alleged poor progress made with the implementation of the Act.

Other recommendations contained in the CEE Report promotes liaison with Institutions like the Commission for Gender Equality and Human Rights Commission to eliminate unfair discrimination and to promote affirmative action. The CEE will also engage organised labour to strengthen the monitoring of the Employment Equity Act and recommend increasing the capacity at the Department of Labour to enforce compliance mechanisms and promote the principle of fair remuneration.

The recent CEE Report was based on an analysis of 3 369 returns submitted by large enterprises covering 4.4 million employees, more than double the number covered by the 2007 CEE Report. The latest CEE Report placed emphasis on the poor representation of black people in top management positions which is allegedly exacerbated by the white males benefiting most from recruitment, training, development and promotion to top management.

She said that she was left with no choice but to believe that there is resistance to change and the work environment is not conducive to black people, particularly those with exceptional talent and in the light of tertiary institutions showing an increased output of black graduates, which has tripled over the past ten years.

The following schedule reflects the Construction Sector professionally qualified workforce profile;
 
African males  17.4%
Coloured males  6.3%
Indian males  5.4%
White males  51.7%
African females  5.6%
Coloured females  1.2%
Indian females  1.5 %
White females  7.5%
Foreign males 3.1%
Foreign females  0.3%
 
Total  100%
 
The CEE Report drew a response from Solidarity, the Trades Union Federation, who claim that the CEE Report places to much emphasis on the top management level and not enough on at what has been achieved at the lower and middle occupational levels.

Solidarity claims that reasonable racial representation had been reached at those levels where 91% of South Africans are employed but concede that transformation at top management level has been slow but is gaining pace.  At the level where 91% of all South Africans are employed, whites now only represent 11.7% of the workforce which is less than the 12.2% of the whites in the economical active population in South Africa.

Solidarity is of the view that this represents an important change. It is claimed in the occupational level for technical workers and junior managers, supervisors and foremen, the participation of black persons, both male and female, increased to 71.3% in 2009. Solidarity state those seeking to achieve certain outcomes are using the data contained in the CEE Report as a reason to amend the Employment Equity Act to make it easier to prosecute and to impose fines of as much as 10% of the turnover of a business enterprise. In its analysis of the 2009/10 CEE Annual Report, Solidarity critisises the methodology used and of the presentation of data as well as pointing out a number of typographical errors in the Report.

Those who follow events may have observed the prominent advertisement in the printed media on 9 August 2010 (Women’s Day), in which the Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities announced the development of a Gender Equality Bill to enforce gender parity measures across all sectors of society. It appears that gender in top management in the private sector will also receive attention.
 
This may be well intentioned but raises concerns about a potential double whammy !

Pieter Rautenbach