EMPLOYERS URGED… not to abandon business principles amid transformation pressure.
Dear employer
NEASA advises employers not to abandon the principle of merit-based employment amid Government’s transformation drive.
Despite the recent ruling by the High Court, in which NEASA and Sakeliga’s application for an interdict against the new employment equity quotas was dismissed, NEASA and Sakeliga maintain – as defenders of employers’ rights – that they will fight the proposed racial quotas from trench to trench.
While NEASA and Sakeliga appeal the flawed ruling and continue to challenge the constitutionality of the racial quotas, employers, from 1 September, must draw up their employment equity plans for the next five years and submit the required reports to the Department of Employment and Labour.
If an employer seeks to comply with Government’s mandatory five-year racial targets, sacrificing their company culture and the principle of merit-based appointments in drafting these plans, such an employer will be bound by Government to achieve those impossible and discriminatory racial targets.
Compliance with racial quotas is impossible and will spell the downfall of any company that attempts to comply therewith. The devastation caused by this transformation policy is perfectly illustrated by the collapse of all South African state institutions. The public service, municipalities, and all state-owned enterprises such as ESKOM, Transnet, the South African Post Office and others, have all prioritised race and gender transformation above merit-based appointments.
No business can flourish, or even function, on a race or gender scorecard. Race and gender quotas simply do not belong in any appointment process. The risk of employment always lies with the employer. The final employment decision must therefore always rest with the employer, not Government.
Businesses that wish to protect their future will not sacrifice their company culture and operational effectiveness to comply with the state’s abuses of power and transformation ideals.
It is crucial that the owners, chief executives, and directors of companies take the seriousness of this matter to heart and become directly and personally involved in the planning around employment equity. This cannot be left to a mid-level manager or human resources manager: this decision can make or break a business.
NEASA will not comply with the state’s racial quotas. The drafting and implementation of NEASA’s employment equity plan will, as in the past, be done with realistic targets, coupled with the justifiable reasons as to why Government’s targets cannot be met. NEASA will always appoint employees on the basis of merit and company culture.
Discrimination on the grounds of race and gender will never be tolerated by NEASA, and resistance against state interference in the private sector will always form part of NEASA’s mission.
For more information, contact NEASA Media Department: media@neasa.co.za