Cosatu: Employment Equity necessary to correct centuries of discrimination

EMPLOYMENT Equity is a necessary path to correct three and a half centuries of the most brutal forms of discrimination.

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This is precisely why the drafters, led by the African National Congress, of South Africa’s Constitution, one of the most progressive and internationally respected, stipulated that government is obliged to utilise its powers to address the legacies of the past and the inequalities of today.

Any government which fails to live up to these ideals, can and has been taken to court.

Political denialists who prefer a state that does nothing to address the injustices of society, past and present, need look no further than neighbouring Zimbabwe as to the real dangers and costs of such procrastination. This is a mistake that we would be wise not to repeat in South Africa.

Democracies are noisy by nature, unfortunately in the desperation for scrounging up votes, some political parties choose to beat the drums of sensationalism at the expense of facts and common sense.

Perhaps the most ludicrous claim has been that White, Coloured and Indian workers will lose their jobs and be locked out of any future employment. In a normal time, when sobriety was not in short supply in our body politic, or flat earth lunatics were not running amok on social media, it would be sufficient to ignore such nonsensical claims.

TRANSPARENCY

However, in the era of social media with no fact checks in place, such hysterical claims do real damage to social cohesion.

The Democratic Alliance has occupied headlines this week with its ill-considered court challenge on the Employment Equity Act's constitutionality. We are confident that the Act which is nearly as old as our hard-won democracy, will once again withstand any ill-tempered court challenge.

Cosatu is confident that the DA's legal challenge, launched at the height of its 2024 elections campaign, will be dismissed as the election gimmick it is.