The DA says the minister of labor and employment confirmed anew in an interview that employment targets are nothing other than racial quotas.
The controversial Equal Employment Amendment Act, which wants to introduce these so-called racial quotas in the workplace, could mean, according to research, that more than 600,000 South Africans of all backgrounds will have to be replaced in their existing jobs because they have the “wrong” skin color.
RNews earlier reported that more than 1,000 supporters of the DA took to the streets of Cape Town on Wednesday to protest against the legislation.
DA leader John Steenhuisen says meanwhile that Thulas Nxesi, the minister of labor and employment, has again shown that the quotas must be opposed and that the ANC is busy “reviving racial divisions of the apartheid era in South Africa”.
This after Aldrin Sampear, a presenter, in a SABC interview with Nxesi used an example of an Indian man applying for a job at a company that has already reached its “target for the employment of Indians”. “What would be your advice to this professional. What would you say he should do?” was the question to the minister.
“You cannot employ more (people) than we want,” Nxesi said in response.
To this, the presenter then asks what happens to the jobseeker in such a case, to which the minister replies: “He has to look for work at another company.”
Steenhuisen says the minister’s answer confirms that the bill is based on racial quotas.
“The ANC has now documented that Indian, brown, white and black South Africans will be prohibited from holding positions at companies where the target for their racial group has already been reached.”
The DA says the legislation also entails that companies that employ more workers with the “wrong skin colour” will be severely punished, including by the suspension of government contracts or a fine of as much as 10% of their annual turnover.
Steenhuisen believes that legislation will be particularly devastating for colored and Indian South Africans where figures have been set at 0.0% for these groups in various sectors and provinces.
“Nxesi’s comments also contradict the agreement his department reached with Solidarity, which clearly shows that the ANC never had any intention of honoring it,” says Steenhuisen.
“The South African legal precedent makes it clear that racial quotas are illegal, therefore the DA will continue with the court case to declare them unconstitutional.
“Nxesi’s statements removed all doubt that the Equal Employment Amendment Act is entirely based on racial quotas that will regulate the employment of South Africans based on their skin colour.
“Nothing will deter us in this battle; history shows that South Africans will unite to defeat the ANC’s reinstatement of apartheid laws.”
