A petition on employment equity lodged with the Speaker of the National Assembly by Solidarity and the Cape Forum came before the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour today. However, the Minister of Employment and Labour Mr Thulas Nxesi told the committee that these regulations are in a draft phase and must thereafter still be subjected to a public participation process.
“Everyone had an opportunity to comment on the Bill and all those comments received attention and influenced the amendments into the law. After receiving the comments, the department is finetuning the draft on the proposed revised regulations and once completed it will be published for further comments,” Mr Nxesi said.
The department’s Deputy Director-General, Mr Thembinkosi Mkalipi, clarified that the employment equity law had already been passed by Parliament and accented to by the President. He characterised the petition as “waste of time” and a “misuse of parliamentary process”, especially as Solidarity had withdrawn its case against the department. In addition, he said there was a settlement agreement that was made a court order and this will be made part of the new regulations when promulgated.
“There are no regulations; the new process will be gazetted and subjected to public participation,” Mr Mkalipi clarified.
The department’s Director-General, Dr Alec Moemi, agreed with this assessment and said the petition was tantamount to asking Parliament to curtail a function of another arm of the state. “This is premature,” he stated.
Members of the committee wanted to know whether the new regulations will reflect the concession the department made to Solidarity as captured in the settlement. Committee member Michael Cardo asked when the new regulations will be gazetted. “There are three provisions upfront in that settlement agreement with Solidarity that are key. Basically, that affirmative action must be temporary in nature; shall be applied in nuanced way; and that no barrier should be placed on employers. None of these are reflected in the new regulations. Would these be reflected when the new regulations are promulgated again,” Mr Cardo asked.
Mr Mkalipi replied by saying that the settlement agreement happened well after the draft regulations were published. “So, the settlement agreement would not have been in the draft regulations. The regulations will be republished again and will include the issues that we agreed on in the settlement.” He emphasised that the regulations had not been finalised and that a new date for publishing could only be determined when the processes had been completed.
Mr Nxesi then said that once the Commission for Employment Equity has finetuned the draft regulations and the department’s comments have been collated the revised regulations will once again be published for further comments.
The committee Chairperson, Ms Lindelwa Dunjwa, said the key thing is that the processes are still ongoing. “It will not be correct for the committee to get involved in a process that the department is seized with, which they will come back and brief the committee [on].” The committee could not by default discuss regulations that had not been tabled. Once this is done, every South African will be allowed to reflect on them, she said.
The committee will reply to the Speaker giving the terms of the report it received from the department. The committee will indicate that processes are ongoing and the regulations are still in a draft stage.
Sibongile Maputi
15 November 2023
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