Today, 2 May 2023, the DA in the Eastern Cape holds this pcket to launch a petition for the national government to amend its unfair and forced employment equity regulations in Nelson Mandela Bay and open job opportunities for thousands of people.
The DA is in full opposition to the ANC’s discriminatory employment equity legislation. We are forced to comply with this legislation in NMB and, therefore, the municipality is being forced to implement a policy that shortlists and employs people based on the provincial demographics of the province. This had led to thousands of people being unfairly locked out of employment opportunities as municipal demographics differ vastly from provincial demographics.
According to the 2016 Census of the city’s estimated population, 59.9% are black, 23.9% coloured, 15% white and 1.2% Asian/Indian. This is a far cry from the estimated population of the province, of which 86.4% are black, 8.6% coloured, 4.6% white and 0.4% Asian/Indian.
It is clear that the municipal policy, in its current format as enforced by government, is unfair and extremely prejudicial to several communities.
The petition, which is available online at https://petitions.da.org.za/p/FairEmploymentNMB, calls on the Minister of Employment and Labour to revise his incorrect interpretation of his own regulations and to allow NMB to implement an employment equity policy based on municipal demographics.
NMB MMC for Corporate Service, DA Cllr Annette Lovemore, has been spearheading this issue and recently tabled a motion that was passed by the NMB portfolio committee for corporate services which directs the municipality to declare an intergovernmental dispute with the department of employment and labour regarding the unfair employment equity policy that is forced on the Metro. The motion tabled seeks to redress this unfair practice and will now be tabled in council.
This motion will not be supported by the ANC/EFF Doomsday Coalition. The ANC has no interest in fairness.
While the DA is fighting for fair access to opportunity, other parties that say they represent those communities, are fighting for the employment equity party, the ANC, to get back into government.
The DA has been fighting for the implementation of a fair policy for many years and asks residents to keep an eye out to see which parties are not in favour of fairness and joins the ANC and EFF when they vote against this motion in council. Parties seeking to remove the current multi-party coalition in favour of the Doomsday Coalition will bury any efforts to amend the unfair employment equity policy currently in use.
The DA is committed to fairness for all the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay and will support the current coalition government, under the leadership of NMB mayor Retief Odendaal, in its efforts to fight for a fair employment equity policy in the Metro.