Employment Equity Amendment Act will worsen unemployment, says DA's Zille

JOHANNESBURG - The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes the Employment Equity Amendment Act will worsen unemployment instead of achieving its intended goal of promoting participation among disadvantaged groups.

The party is taking its fight against the law to the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday.

It is seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional.

While the DA opposes the entire act, this challenge specifically targets section 15(A) of the legislation.

This section requires companies with more than 50 employees to meet numerical targets for the representation of black people, women, and people with disabilities.

Speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Monday, DA federal council chairperson, Helen Zille, said that the legislation would not help reduce unemployment.

"It will continue to drive unemployment up, economic growth down and make far more people unemployed and marginalised in our economy than they already are. One thing I've learned in all my years in politics is that you never judge a bill by the intention of the government."

She claimed that the DA was not against affirmative action or transformative policies.

"And so, while we strongly support in the Democratic Alliance redress measures, they need to be fair, they need to be rational, they need to promote economic growth and they need to get people into jobs. That is the number one objective."