If I can't use puns then it's not worth my while. So I continue.
The news was full of the latest EE Commission report. It was on TV, SAFM and made the print media as well. I read the report in Business Day this morning (Employment equity hits ‘all-time low’).
I think Jimmy Manyi (Commission for Employment Equity chairman) is treading a very fine line with his rather inflammatory rhetoric. He is quoted in the Business Day as attributing the “serious over-representation of white women as indicative of the racist preferences of the white male gatekeepers of employment." Even Labour Minister Mdladlana had to try and temper this little gust of wind.
Come on Jimmy - the reasons have to go much further beyond your inflammatory ruminations. Logic suggests that things like skills, availability of people and the cost of hiring them must also play a role in these stats.
So where to now? It would seem as though they are going to police the top 100 companies to get serious progress in compliance. And that's all they can do, the EE Act is a "procedural act", in other words if you don't follow the procedures prescribed in sections 16 and 19-23 then you will be fined. The act cannot punish you for not meeting your targets. I have my absolute doubts whether the top 100 companies don't follow the letter of the law. I've attached a list of the punitive sections of the act. You can check to see whether you are breaking the law.
Begs the question - is EE failing? I would suggest it is.
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