Don’t sign the job-killing Employment Equity Amendment Bill, Mr President
30 May 2022
Dear President Ramaphosa RE: EMPLOYMENT EQUITY AMENDMENT BILL
You have, on your desk and awaiting your assent, the Employment Equity Amendment Bill. This Bill was passed by the National Assembly at the end of last year, and has just been passed by the National Council of Provinces. It now requires only your signature to be passed into law. I am asking you not to do this.
If you are at all serious about a reform agenda that will reignite our stalled economy, create jobs on a large scale and lift millions of desperate South Africans out of poverty and into employment, you will surely know that this Bill stands between you and this goal. You will no doubt be pressured by those in your party who do not support a reform agenda to put your signature on the Bill, but you cannot be unaware of the devastating effect this Bill will have on future investment and jobs.
Despite its name, the Employment Equity Amendment Bill will not bring about transformation in the workplace. It will not achieve a levelling of the playing field, and it will do nothing for the almost 12 million South Africans who do not have jobs. We all know by now that the names given to such undertakings often serve as a fig leaf for their actual purpose and effect. Just as Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment has done nothing but further impoverish this broad base while enriching a thin sliver of well-connected individuals, the Employment Equity Amendment Bill will do the opposite of what it says on the box.