While the DA says its constitutional challenge against the Employment Equity Amendment Act is to stop race quotas “which will destroy jobs, undermine the economy, and violate the constitutional rights of all South Africans”, the ANC says its GNU partner’s court action shows it is against “transformation”.
The ANC was reacting to the announcement that the DA was taking Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhosazana Meth to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to challenge the Employment Equity Amendment Act.
The case is expected to be heard on Tuesday.
DA MP Michael Bagraim said in a statement that the Act gave the minister unchecked power to enforce rigid quotas. He said real transformation would come through inclusive economic growth, not “divisive race-based quotas”.
According to News24, Bagraim said: “The DA has launched a constitutional challenge to Section 15A of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, which introduces rigid national race quotas in the workplace. These quotas will destroy jobs, undermine the economy, and violate the constitutional rights of all South Africans.
“We are taking the Minister of Employment and Labour to court because Section 15A represents a radical and harmful departure from previous employment equity law. Where companies once set their own equity goals based on context and the available labour force, they are now compelled to meet government-imposed demographic targets, regardless of skills, local realities or business viability.”
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said the ANC would defend the hard-won labour rights that generations of workers had fought for.
“It is not only a legal manoeuvre − it is a calculated political stunt, launched on the eve of Workers’ Day, aimed at reversing three decades of democratic gains. It is an affront to workers, to the poor, and to our national Constitution. This is part of a broader pattern.”
Mbalula added that the ANC would not surrender to “elitist apartheid nostalgia or legal posturing”.
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