WATCH | New workplace race quotas will ‘extend ANC cadre deployment’: Steenhuisen

An act signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa to impose new race quotas in the workplace could cost up to 600,000 jobs, while serving as a further extension of cadre deployment by the ANC. 

That was the view of DA leader John Steenhuisen on Wednesday when he led supporters on a march to parliament to oppose the Employment Equity Amendment Bill of 2020. 

“We’ve already seen how organised mafias have taken over economic sectors like the construction industry,” he said. 

“Mark my words: if these race quotas are implemented, you will soon see mafias going to private businesses and telling them which cadres to employ, while honest and hard-working South Africans of all backgrounds are pushed even deeper into suffering.”

The legislation, which applies to companies employing more than 50 people, allows the department of employment and labour to enforce new transformation targets across various industries and provides for hefty fines in cases of noncompliance.

The march started at Darling Street and wound its way to parliament in the CBD, with supporters carrying posters saying the move would destroy jobs. 

Steenhuisen said the country already faced an unemployment crisis, coupled with a soaring cost of living crisis. “And what is the ANC national government’s response to the unemployment and food crisis that threatens the survival of millions of South Africans? 

“They introduce a race quotas act that could cost up to 600,000 jobs and kill any hopes of increased investment or economic growth,” he said. 

“There are now more people who live on the R350 grant than there are people with jobs.” 

He quoted a warning issued last week about the quotas from Pick n Pay chairperson Gareth Ackerman, who cautioned they “would have the effect of making large numbers of qualified people unemployed and substituting them with unqualified people. It is very probably unconstitutional and could ruin many productive companies and foreign investments on which the economy depends.” 

Labour and employment chief director Thembinkosi Mkalipi told Business Times earlier this month the act, which became law in April, would level the playing field in workplaces after the dismal performance of the private sector on transformation. 

The new act gives the minister the power to set five-year equity targets in sectors of the economy. Companies will be required to present annual plans on meeting the targets set by the minister. 

Cape Town mayor Geordin-Hill Lewis, safety and security MMC JP Smith and provincial agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer were among the crowd. 

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