Latest news with #NomakhosazanaMeth
The Citizen
7 days ago
- Business
- The Citizen
Urgent court action aims to halt employment equity quotas
Business organisations say government's new race and gender targets are procedurally flawed and unconstitutional. The court papers highlight what appear to be substantive procedural flaws in the setting of race quotas. Picture: Moneyweb Sakeliga and the National Employers Association of SA (Neasa) filed an urgent Gauteng High Court application this week challenging race and gender targets under the Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEAA), which became law in January 2025. The act sets hiring quotas for 18 economic sectors, from agriculture and mining to transport and construction. 'The application challenges the legality and constitutionality of the newly introduced employment equity framework, which introduces rigid race and gender quotas across 18 economic sectors on the top four occupational levels,' according to a statement by the business organisations. These quotas, formally published in April 2025, require employers with 50 or more employees to restructure their entire workforce to reflect the national gender and racial demographics of the country, or face dire consequences. The EEA defines 'designated groups' as blacks, women and people with disabilities, and is intended to increase their representation in the workplace. ALSO READ: State sued over estate agent BEE plan The challenge involves two steps: The first asks the court for a judicial review of the 'procedurally flawed' manner in which the minister went about setting the quotas; and The second part, yet to be launched, attacks the constitutionality of the quotas under the relevant parts of the EEA. Neasa and Sakeliga argue that Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhosazana Meth skirted the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (Paja) by not applying the relevant sections of the EEA in arriving at the race quotas. The policing of the act and its associated regulations will require 10 000 labour inspectors by the Department of Employment and Labour. The act has received pushback from business, the DA and trade union Solidarity. 'When the legislation was passed, we informed the government that we would bring an urgent application to set it aside as they had not done proper consultation, as required by law,' says Gerhard Papenfus, chief executive of Neasa. ALSO READ: Employment Equity Act amendments to come into effect on 1 January 2025 'They then started consulting, but with whom? 'They chose 18 industries. The act says you must first determine what these industries are. You can't just decide this on your own,' he says. 'On top of that, the consultations took place over seven days. They scheduled for each and every consultation for one and a half hours, allowing just 15 minutes for questions. That's not consultation.' Neasa also criticises the way industries were demarcated. For example, manufacturing – including steel, plastics, agro-processing, clothing and chemicals and other sub-sectors – was treated as a single industry. ALSO READ: Five-year Employment Equity targets: What must each sector aim for? Substantive flaws The court papers highlight what appear to be substantive procedural flaws in the setting of race quotas. Failure to identify and gazette economic sectors: The identification of 18 national economic sectors for purposes of setting quotas was not carried out as required under the EEA, which meant there were no sectors existing in law with whom the minister could consult. It further resulted in different sub-sectors with different characteristics being lumped together under a one-size-fits-all quota. Improper consultation: Inadequate notice was given for online consultations and these were limited to 1 000 attendees, with just 15 minutes allocated to questions. The minister neglected to consult with employees in the economic sectors who will be severely affected by the quotas. No lawful publication: The two business organisations say the final 2025 quotas differ radically from the earlier draft quotas published in 2023 and 2024, and were never published for renewed public comment as required under the act. This is a legal requirement and failure to adhere to it renders the quotas invalid. Quotas are arbitrary: The minister set irrational and arbitrary quotas that do not take into account the nature, circumstances and challenges of each sector. No consideration was given to the pool of skills available in each sector, the natural gender disparity in certain sectors, or the difference in racial demographics across provinces in SA. No socio-economic impact assessment performed: The regulations are ultimately aimed at compelling the workforce of every single designated employer in SA, in every sector, on every occupational level, to conform to the racial and gender demographic profile of the country's economically active population. This cannot be rationally introduced as a legal requirement without a proper assessment of its socio-economic impacts. Violation of The Constitution: The quotas disregard South Africa's constitutional stipulations on non-racialism, equality before the law, and administrative justice. Businesses will be forced to spend vast amounts of time and resources complying with these employment equity quotas, say Neasa and Sakeliga in a statement. ALSO READ: DA legal challenge to Employment Equity sparks political divide 'Individuals will be employed or not employed, and promoted or not promoted, based on unlawful quotas. Employers will restructure and make other permanent changes to their workforce and corporate structuring, employ new employees and forego opportunities and take on the expense that this involves, all based on unlawful quotas. 'This [court] filing marks the next important step in preventing these impossible, irrational, and harmful employment quotas for the benefit of employers, employees, and all communities across the country.' Papenfus was part of a delegation of Afrikaner leaders to visit the US White House in June, during which the US administration set out a number of preconditions for normalising relations with SA, including exempting US businesses from BEE requirements, classifying farm attacks as a priority crime, no land expropriation without compensation and an unequivocal condemnation by the ANC of the 'Kill the boer, kill the farmer' slogan. Law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has filed a separate court challenge to the Legal Sector Code – which sets firm-level targets of 50% black ownership, voting rights and executive management positions within five years – arguing that these targets are unrealistic given that blacks made up just 38% of the profession in 2023. It argues that the introduction of the code was arbitrary, unlawful and procedurally flawed. This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
IOL News
7 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Neasa and Sakeliga mount legal challenge against employment regulations
The National Employers' Association of South Africa (Neasa) and Sakeliga have jointly filed an urgent application for an interdict against the implementation of the 2025 Employment Equity sectoral numerical quotas. The National Employers' Association of South Africa (Neasa) and Sakeliga have jointly filed an urgent application for an interdict against the implementation of the 2025 Employment Equity sectoral numerical quotas and accompanying administrative regulations, as well as calling for the judicial review and setting aside thereof. The Minister of Employment and Labour, Dr Nomakhosazana Meth published the employment equity regulations of April 15. These quotas require employers with 50 or more employees to restructure their entire workforce to reflect national gender and racial demographics of the country. The application challenges the legality and constitutionality of the newly introduced employment equity framework. The legal challenge firstly aims for a judicial review of the procedural acts of the Minister in setting the quotas, which the organisations alledge were fraught with irregularities and inadequacies in process. Secondly, the challenge also entails a constitutional challenge of the substance of relevant sections in the Employment Equity Act (EEA), which allow for and facilitate the setting and enforcement of these quotas. In the founding affidavit, Neasa and Sakeliga argue that the Minister did not act in accordance with the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, as she failed to adhere to the prescriptions of Section 15A of the EEA prior to the setting and publishing of the 2025 sectoral numerical quotas. They claim this renders Meth's actions unlawful and invalid. The court papers, filed in the Gauteng Division of the High Court, also contend the Minister failed to properly identify, and gazette for public comment, the 18 national economic sectors for purposes of setting quotas, as required by Section 15A(4). Neasa and Sakeliga also argue that there was not proper consultation. Instead, they say stakeholders across numerous sectors were either not invited or not given adequate notice of virtual 'consultations', all of which were limited to only 1 000 attendees. "Some stakeholders were given the final quotas only hours before these so-called consultations, with most consultations allowing less than 15 minutes for feedback and discussions. The Minister completely neglected to consult with employees in the economic sectors who will be severely affected by the quotas. Consultation in this manner is woefully inadequate for the Minister to have come to a reasonable, non-arbitrary decision in respect of the quotas," they said. Neasa and Sakeliga also say the final 2025 quotas differ drastically from the earlier draft quotas published in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Despite this, they were never published for renewed public comment as required by section 15A(4) of the Act. This is a legal requirement and failure to adhere to it renders the quotas invalid. They also argue that the quotas are arbitary and do not take into account the nature, circumstances and challenges of each sector. "The Minister failed to obtain and consider a comprehensive socio-economic impact study on the consequences of introducing sectoral quotas... This cannot be rationally introduced as a legal requirement without a proper assessment of its socio-economic impacts," the legal challenge maintains. The second leg of the legal challenge questions the constitutionality and legality of the concept of forced ministerial quotas, which will be comprehensively argued at a later stage. "Unless the Court intervenes and grants the interim relief sought, every employer that employs 50 employees or more, in every sector of the economy, will be required by legislation to prepare and implement employment equity plans to make their workforce conform to the 2025 quotas," they said. "This filing marks the next important step in preventing these impossible, irrational, and harmful employment quotas for the benefit of employers, employees, and all communities across the country." Attempts to get comment from the Department of Employment and Labour by the time of going to print were unsuccessful. BUSINESS REPORT
The Citizen
04-07-2025
- The Citizen
Minister Meth hails arrests in R1.5m UIF fraud bust
Labour minister praises police after arrests in UIF fraud scheme involving fake companies and stolen identities. Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhosazana Meth. Picture: Department of Employment and Labour Employment and Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth has welcomed the arrest of a Labour department manager and several others in a major Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) fraud takedown across the Free State and Gauteng. The authorities uncovered a syndicate using fake companies and stolen identities to defraud the fund. Police in the Free State launched a takedown operation on Thursday in Bloemfontein, Bethlehem and Gauteng, following a detailed Crime Intelligence probe into fraud and corruption at the Department of Labour. Syndicate to defraud UIF Free State police spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said the starting point was at the Labour House in the Bloemfontein CBD, where one person of interest was arrested. Makhele said this comes following months of painstaking research into a complex fraud involving false claims for funds from the UIF. ALSO READ: Free State police close in on UIF fraud suspects 'It is alleged that the masterminds behind this operation recruited unsuspecting individuals and used their personal information to register fictitious companies, which in turn submitted false claims to the Department of Labour,' Makhele said. 'The fraudulently obtained funds would then be shared among the recruiter (or runner), in some cases even the person whose identity was used.' Estimated R1.5 million lost According to estimates, the department may have lost more than R1.5 million. Police arrested a 42-year-old office manager at Labour House in Bloemfontein, marking the key breakthrough in Thursday's operation. He is thought to have played a significant part in facilitating the illegal operation, which spanned the provinces of Gauteng and the Free State. The minister condemned the actions, saying the department was appalled by the betrayal of public trust by individuals who sought to enrich themselves through criminal conduct. ALSO READ: UIF boosts Ters budget to R2.4 billion to save jobs and businesses 'Such acts not only undermine our systems but also rob deserving South Africans of support during times of need,' Meth said. Makhele said the operation only marks the beginning. Arrests continued in various towns across the Free State and at identified locations in Gauteng. He said the operation is expected to result in the arrest of approximately 20 suspects. Internal investigations and disciplinary action The minister confirmed that the department is fully cooperating with the police and other law enforcement agencies. Meth said officials will launch internal investigations and disciplinary action against implicated employees. 'We commend Saps [South African Police Service] for its professionalism, and we will leave no stone unturned in dealing with fraud and corruption in the department, its funds and entities,' she said. ALSO READ: UIF commissioner Teboho Maruping challenges suspension amid disciplinary processes over R5bn Thuja deal 'The department is reviewing its internal controls and will intensify risk management, fraud prevention and system audit processes across all its operating environments.' Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane, the Saps' Free State provincial commissioner, praised the team for their commitment and precise operation execution. Motswenyane said it's essential that those who take advantage of government systems for their own financial gain be held responsible for their conduct. Take advantage of government systems 'I applaud our investigators for their tireless efforts and unwavering commitment to justice. This case serves as a warning that crime does not pay and that we will continue to dismantle criminal networks wherever they exist,' said Motswenyane. The suspects are scheduled to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on Monday. Investigations are ongoing, and more arrests are imminent. ALSO READ: Call for intervention in 'horror show' at Compensation Fund and UIF 'Let this be a strong warning: unethical conduct will not be tolerated. We will ensure accountability and transparency in our operations. Crime will not go unpunished,' Meth said.
IOL News
23-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Navigating unemployment data: a response to Minister Meth's critique of StatsSA
This article critiques the recent comments made by Minister Nomakhosazana Meth regarding South Africa's unemployment data, drawing parallels with historical statistical practices under Margaret Thatcher's government. Image: GCIS Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom entered the realm of statistics and ultimately destroyed the Office of the National Statistics (ONS) of the United Kingdom. Felix Romer in a 2022 Journal article titled Poverty, Inequality Statistics and Knowledge Politics Under Thatcher demonstrates thus 'Academic experts such as Townsend criticised the government for delays and omissions in official reports and for misleading statistical definitions that deliberately lowered the poverty count.' It took fifteen years of hard work from its former colonies to rebuild the UK ONS by Bill McClennan of Australia and Len Cooke of New Zealand who had to cross seas and continents to go and fix ONS. We do not need that history repeating itself in South Africa. It needs to be nipped in the bud. And that is what I am going to relentlessly do as statistician emeritus. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading The Honourable Tau, Meth, Sekwati and their cohorts are dancing on Thatcher's template, but in StatsSA and its current and previous staff they have a match and South Africa can be assured that a Thatcherite debacle will not fly. As the unemployment debate rages, another day another political missile. This time around Minister Nomakhosazana Meth leads with yet uninformed discourse talking through all corners of the mouth under an article titled 'Capitec CEO isn't wrong: Unemployment data needs work.' She takes the reader through a meandering journey of scholarly papers, and for that she should be given credit. However, where she gets it totally wrong in her ventilatory voyage, she fails to go into the foundational methodological documents from StatsSA. Two such lay the foundation. In addition, each release of StatsSA liberates any doubting Thomas, which Meth has become one of the most illustrious. Each would be missile she sends in the direction of StatsSA's methodology which she has not taken time to acquaint herself, finds a mosquito repellent that buries her missives in the deep burrows, so that she never misinforms again. The two methodological documents that laid the foundation are Report of the Labour force Statistics Evaluation Mission to south Africa dated March 15-31, 2005, by Alfonso Rodriques Arias who was an advisor to the World Bank. The other is the Report on the Responses by Statistics South Africa to Recommended Improvements to the Labour Force Survey dated June 2008 which accompanied the first release of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey. At the behest of President Mbeki and Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, StatsSA recruited Rodriques to critic the Labour Force Survey that was held twice a year. The two reports form the basis for addressing policy concerns of government. Continuity of change in government is addressed by acquainting oneself with work of the predecessors. To what extent Meth's seventh administration succeeded to secure knowledge from the third administration might remain a big question. In StatsSA the records and knowledge base of the first administration informed all subsequent administrations including the current seventh administration. In my two articles titled "Debating the labour force suvey" and "To allow ignorance about statsSA to run supreme should not be allowed " I make continuity of change in the state visible. In this continuity of change successive ministers of labour accompanied this journey and hopefully were able to educate their counterparts. The elaborate vitriol on StatsSA would have not been spewed had Meth acquainted herself with the concerns of and responses to the third administration regarding the QLFS. To educate the honourable Tau, honourable Meth, honourable Sekwati and other honourable cohorts including the random businessman Gerrie Fourie who like Loane Sharpe of Adcorp spewed vitriol on StatsSA. Space and time do not permit me to lift everything from the two foundational reports of StatsSA of QLFS. I would like to lift methodological documents and the QLFS reports. Once you have done so, then we could possibly entertain your public posture towards the work of StatsSA. To guide you I would just need to lift a few pointers that addresses your uninformed tirade. Arias made thirty seven observations, and twenty five of these related to the questionnaire content, design and administration. Fourie, Tau, Meth and Sekwati are advised to go and read these twenty five observations and then they can engage sensibly. Arias makes two distinct observations, one on informal sector employment and another on informal employment. For example, on the question of informal sector employment Arias made the following observation – 'Observation: Data on sector of employment (formal/informal) are currently determined according to the respondent's perception of the informal sector. He recommended thus Recommendation: Collect objective information to get International Labour Organisation (ILO) compatible estimates by employer size and self-employed occupational status. Include information about the employee's 'protected' status. And Stats SA took the following Action taken by the Statistician General: The questionnaire has 11 questions to identify formal versus informal employment and sector. The respondent perception question was retained for historical comparability only. On the question of Measurement of Informal Employment Arias made the following Observation: There are no measurements of informal employment based on the status in employment or status of workers, whether or not in combination with characteristics of the production unit. Recommendation: Adopt the Guidelines of the ILO's Seventeenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians, 2003. Action taken by the Statistician General: Questions to measure informal employment included. Conformity with ILO guidelines will be adopted. The random business man posing as a labour statistician and politicians who became his choristers have no point to make against the function of the Statistician General in as far as the Quarterly Labour Force Survey is concerned. They should desist from being purveyors of misinformation. Unemployment and poverty in South Africa are real and will not change because of the lens of measurement, these seekers of good news have their shoe on the wrong foot. These purveyors of mendacities should understand that change can only occur when boardroom discourse use science and when politicians start respecting the authority of measurement. Dr Pali Lehohla is a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, among other hats. Image: Supplied Their responses to statistical observations with the right policy instruments is what is required rather than pandering to business people's opinions that fail the basic task of understanding the source and manifestation of their riches. Dr Pali Lehohla is a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, a Research Associate at Oxford University, a board member of Institute for Economic Justice at Wits and a distinguished Alumni of the University of Ghana. He is the former Statistician-General of South Africa. BUSINESS REPORT Visit:
Mail & Guardian
20-06-2025
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Labour department denies racial quotas in Employment Equity Amendment Act
Minister of Labour and Employment Nomakhosazana Meth. (File photo) The department of employment and labour has rejected claims by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that the In April, the DA But labour department spokesperson Pertunia Lessing, told the Mail & Guardian that the Act 'does not have quotas'. The DA, whose challenge will be heard in the coming weeks, says the new amendments will 'make employers self-implement sectoral racial quotas', which give employers the right to identify and record an employee's race if the employee chooses not to disclose it voluntarily. In a written reply to a DA question in parliament, Employment and Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth said the amendment was meant to ensure 'reliable, existing historical data'. This would mean that an employee would either need to disclose their family history, which is considered personal information, or have their race assumed. DA spokesperson on labour Michael Bagraim said Meth's 'generic' definitions of persons of colour cannot stand in a democratic South Africa. 'This is a preposterous suggestion and appears to expect employers to conduct race inspections to tick a box, in order to avoid being fined,' he said. According to the Employment Equity Act, 'black people' is a generic term that includes African, coloured and Indian people. This definition in the Act has not been amended since 1998. According to the 2025 amendments, employers with 50 or more workers are required to ask each worker to fill out a form to declare their occupational level in terms of race, gender and disability status information. If an employee refuses to fill out the form or gives incorrect details, the employer is allowed to use reliable past or current information to determine the person's race, gender or disability status. This process must be done at the workplace and is the employer's legal duty. The DA accused the minister of not conducting a formal investigation based on evidence to establish the 'South Africa continues to be one of the most unequal nations on Earth, with more than eight million South Africans unemployed and a small elite enriched, making the evidence against employment equity regulations undeniable,' Bagraim said. The Act as amended further sets hiring quotas for 18 economic sectors, from mining and transport to construction and agriculture, in a bid to increase employment opportunities for 'designated groups' including black people, women and people living with disabilities. The DA noted that South Africa no longer uses the Population Registration Act, an 'It cannot stand that employers become racial classification agents,' Bagraim said.
