Democratic Alliance Federal Chairperson, Hellen Zille has criticised the amendment of the Employment Equity Act comparing it to apartheid laws which divided people along racial lines. The amendment act expands employment equity targets.
Zille was drumming up support for the DA in a predominantly coloured community in Newlands East in Durban. Newlands East is in the parts of eThekwini municipality’s ward 11, where a by-election will be held on 28 June.
Zille says the Employment Equity Amendment Act, which was signed into law in April categorises people in the workplace along racial lines instead of promoting equality.
“Well, the Employment Equity Amendment Act is racial engineering at its very worst. It starts applying quarters to every population group. I don’t know how they are going to define who is in which population group and if they are going to re-introduce the old apartheid pencil test or what. But it is quite the most outrageous attempt to divide people on the basis of race and to exclude people especially Coloured and Indian people from jobs based on their proportion in the population and we reject it entirely,” says Zille.
Meanwhile, residents of municipal flats in Newlands East told Zille coloured people have been neglected. They raised concerns about appalling living conditions, an increase in crime, drug abuse and high unemployment.
“In this particular area, the coloured people are forgotten people and we face many challenges regarding our area, the gangsterism, the drug problem that the children face and stuff like that and in the flats they are so rundown. We have to maintain them ourselves,” says one of the residents.
Another resident says, “Where I stay is the most dangerous part. There is always shooting at night, especially when there is load shedding. Just Friday night, there was a shooting going just on top of our flat. We don’t know who they were shooting. We’ve got to hide ourselves all the time.”
Solidarity union has also called on the scrapping of the act:
