THE Democratic Alliance's (DA) opposition to what it calls the "Race Quotas Act" is nothing more than racism itself.
On Wednesday, 26 July, the DA marched against government’s Employment Equity (EE) Amendment Bill.
The ANC said the march and opposition to the bill was a plain reminder that the DA is committed to "racial inequalities".
On 12 April 2023, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Bill into law, which empowers the Department of Labour to set new transformation targets for different industries.
Employment Equity (EE) explained
The DA claims the bill will drive minorities out of work and will lead to 600 000 people losing their jobs.
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But according to ANC spokeswoman Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, the DA march is another reminder that the opposition party remains committed to perpetuating racial inequality and prejudice in Mzansi.
Bhengu-Motsiri said the bill aims to assist the government in changing and addressing historical racial inequalities by promoting equality in the workplace.
“The DA and other opposition parties who resist this righteous act of promoting the restructuring of the workplace proportionately are showing themselves to be satisfied with the status quo, where the economic architecture favours the privileged few at the expense of the majority of South Africans, who remain on the periphery.”
She said that the "DA in their believe that South Africans are easily fooled," talk of racial exclusion is basically just a cover to defend racial prejudice.
“The EE bill passes the constitutional and rationality test. To suggest that it will encourage so-called 'mafia' groups to control private companies is an outrageous and desperate ploy to appeal to the DA's traditional, conservative voters,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has also condemned what they call “the race mongering attacks” on employment equity regulations by the DA, Afriforum and other organisations.
Cosatu acting national spokesman, Matthew Parks, said: “Employment equity is a sensitive matter for all South Africans and should be handled with the necessary care and sobriety. The pre-elections stunts of the DA and other extremist organisations don’t help anyone, except a few race baiters on social media.”
