Dear Editor
The DA has launched a constitutional challenge to Section 15A of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, which introduces rigid national race quotas in the workplace. These quotas will destroy jobs, undermine the economy, and violate the constitutional rights of all South Africans.
We are taking the Minister of Employment and Labour to court because Section 15A represents a radical and harmful departure from previous employment equity law.
Where companies once set their own equity goals based on context and the available labour force, they are now compelled to meet government-imposed demographic targets, regardless of skills, local realities, or business viability.
This case is not about resisting redress. It is about protecting people’s rights under the Constitution, the rule of law, and the livelihoods of South Africans. The DA believes that real redress does not mean implementing policies that bring more division. We believe that true transformation can only be achieved by focusing on inclusive economic growth that creates opportunity for all. Our argument is two-fold:
Constitutional invalidity: Section 15A violates Section 9 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law and prohibits unfair discrimination. A law that forces employers to fire or refuse to hire people based on race, whether they are black, coloured, Indian, or white, is not redress. It is unconstitutional discrimination.
Abuse of state power: The Minister’s powers under Section 15A are vague, unchecked, and dangerously broad. The so-called “targets” are not guidelines – they are binding quotas, enforceable under threat of penalties of up to 10% of a company’s turnover. The law empowers the Minister to impose these quotas with no clear criteria, violating the Dawood principle, which says public officials must be guided by intelligible and clear legal standards.
This is not just a theoretical concern. The final quotas, published last week, make it virtually impossible for some communities, particularly coloured workers in the Western Cape and Indian workers in KwaZulu-Natal, to find or keep jobs.
This isn’t transformation. It is racial exclusion under a new name.
The government itself tacitly admits how damaging these quotas are. Why else would it exempt small businesses with fewer than 50 employees? Why else would it settle the Solidarity case with a promise not to use the law in a way that leads to job losses?
Our court action will expose the real issue: the problem is not the quotas themselves but the law that enables them. That is why we are challenging Section 15A directly, not just quotas that flow from it.
The DA’s position is clear: every law must be judged on whether it grows the economy and creates jobs. These quotas fail that test spectacularly.
We are standing up for the right of every South African to be employed on the basis of their skill, character and contribution – not the colour of their skin. And we will not stop until this unconstitutional law is overturned.
The DA’s case will be heard in the North Gauteng High Court on Tuesday 6 May.
Grow the economy. Create jobs. Scrap the quotas.
Regards
Michael Bagraim MP
DA Spokesperson on Employment & Labour