Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, is calling for stricter punitive measures against companies that do not comply with the Employment Equity (EE) Act.
This follows the launch today (Monday) of the 17th Annual Report of the Commission for Employment Equity showing that the employment equity picture remains unchanged, with 68.5% of top management positions at South African companies still occupied by white South Africans.
According to the report, Africans constitute 14.4%, Indians 8.9%, Coloureds 4.9% and foreign nationals 3.4% of top management positions.
Responding to the report, Oliphant said it was “very concerning” that there were just too many Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed companies that were completely ignoring the law.
“To date there are more than 21 companies that have been fined for non-compliance around employment equity and several others that are on the verge of being fined,” she said.
JSE-listed companies alone account for more than 50% of the companies that have been fined for non-compliance, according to Oliphant.
“We are seriously considering approaching the President to enact the more punitive Sections and Chapters of the EE Act, which were initially excluded from the earlier promulgation.
“This will give the Employment Equity Act real teeth and will bite where it hurts the most, and that is designated employers’ revenue,” Oliphant said.
