In South Africa, a total of 60% of employers in the ending financial year have been referred to prosecution for failing to comply with the Employment Equity (EE) legislation. The Chief Director of the Department of Employment and Labour Fikiswa Bede made this known at an advocacy session to discuss compliance with the EE Act. According to her, the agency’s review process showed that there was a 94% non-compliance with the EE Act with a total of 860 reviews done nationwide. She added also, that most of these companies requested to settle out of court when reported.
The Employment Equity Act was first enacted in 1998 and seeks to protect workers from workplace discrimination, to ensure that all employees receive equal opportunities and that employees are treated fairly by their employers.
Under the review by the Department of Employment and Labour, the DG has the oversight function of determining if a company’s compliance with the law, failure of which would land it in labour court.
A recent World Bank report lists South Africa as the country with the most inequality in the world: 85% of household wealth is owned by 10% of the population and unemployment is at an all-time high of 35.8%.
The Statistician-General of South Africa Risenga Maluleke has announced that the number of unemployed South Africans rose by 0.5% in the third quarter (Q3) of 2021. The rise saw the country’s unemployment reach 34.9%.
Releasing the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the last quarter, Maluleke said during this period, 660,000 people lost their jobs while 14.3 million people retained their jobs between July and September.
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said the unemployment rate, according to the expanded definition of unemployment, increased by 2.2 percentage points to 46.6% in Q3, 2021, compared to Q2, 2021.
