Labour Court gives thumbs up to Employment Equity following Court challenge

8 October 2019

The Department of Employment and Labour welcomes the outcome of today’s Labour Court judgement as this reconfirms the Constitutionality and legality of affirmative and the law.

This follows today's Labour Court judgement to dismiss the application filed by Solidarity to challenge the Employment Equality Act and affirmative action programmes as unconstitutional.  

Thembinkosi Mkalipi, Department of Employment and Labour Chief Director: Labour Relation was reacting to the Labour Court judgement delivered in Johannesburg today following the long-drawn out case brought by trade union Solidarity.

The Court case followed the release on 12 July 2018, by the South African Human Rights (SAHRC), of a report entitled 'Achieving substantive economic equality through rights-based radical socio-economic transformation in South Africa'.

The report evaluates government's programme of socio-economic transformation from a rights-based perspective and deals, in part with transformation in the workplace and the implementation of the Employment Equity Act.

Solidarity had used the SAHRC's Equality Report to seek an order declaring that Section 42 of the Employment Equity Act is unconstitutional.

Issued by Thembinkosi Mkalipi, Chief Director: Collective Bargaining, Department of Employment and Labour, 7 October 2019