FF Plus insists with the minister of labour that draft regulations on employment equity should be withdrawn
The FF Plus yesterday formally objected to the draft regulations on employment equity, Dr. Pieter Mulder, leader of the FF Plus says.
According to Dr. Mulder, the deadline for the submission of objections to the draft regulations in terms of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, which was announced last month, was yesterday (27 March 2014).
He therefore sent a letter containing an urgent request to the minister of Labour, Ms. Mildred Oliphant, to withdraw the draft regulations as a matter of extreme importance. The letter stated, amongst others, the following:
"The FF Plus would like to state it clearly that we strongly object to the recently published regulations in terms of the Employment Equity Amendment Act. The Constitution of South Africa, and in particular section 9 of the Equity Clause, confirms that everyone in South Africa is equal.
"The proposed draft Employment Equity Regulations makes a mockery of this guarantee in the Constitution. It is also in direct contrast to the total idea of non-racism which is one of the founding principles of our Constitution, and in particular Section 1(d).
According to Dr. Mulder, the regulations in a nutshell stipulates that an employer with more than 150 employees has to use the ‘national economically active' population figures or demographics when appointing people to the top and senior management levels of such a company.
"It will deny people of various races an equal opportunity to obtain employment and especially in the Western Cape, white, but moreover, brown people will be hardest hit.
"Nationally, brown people only make up 9% of the total population figures and in the Western Cape nearly 50%. It would therefore mean that nearly 40% of brown people in the Western Cape will be denied employment, Dr. Mulder said.
Statement issued by Dr. Pieter Mulder, FF Plus leader, March 28 2014
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