The Chairperson of the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE), Commissioner Mfanozelwe Shozi, expressed his concern at the alarmingly slow pace of transformation in the workplace and general non-compliance with employment equity legislation by employers, as reflected in the Commission for Employment Equity’s (EEC) 13th Annual Report, tabled today.
Pointing to trends over the past 10 years, Chairperson of the EEC, Dr Loyiso Mbabane, noted that African representation in top management increased from 10% in 2002, to a mere 12% in 2012.
Likewise, women’s representation in top management moved marginally from 13.7% in 2002, to 19.8% in 2012, and at senior management levels, from 21.6% in 2012, to 30.7% in 2013.
Of grave concern, is the lack of growth of women and African representation in the middle management and technical skills categories, which indicates that these figures are unlikely to change in the near future. Dr Loyiso made the point that unless concerted efforts are made to recruit, train and promote representatives from designated groups, transformation will not succeed.
The CGE is disappointment at the manner in which transformation measures have been manipulated to advantage certain designated groups, in relation to the finding that white women’s representation in all sectors more than doubles that of all women from other designated groups. The CGE notes comments made by Department of Trade and Industry’s Chief Director, Ms Namonde Mesatywa, also a Commissioner with the EEC, in relation to the implementation of BEE objectives, on employers’ pursuit of numerical targets, encouraging fronting, as opposed to substantive transformation. In this regard, the CGE welcomes Minister Oliphant’s stated assertion that no government tender should be issued to non-compliant companies.
EEC statistics contained in this Annual Report confirm findings of the CGE in its recent and on-going employment equity public hearings process, which seeks to interrogate and hold employers to account for the poor pace of gender transformation in the workplace. Overall, CGE findings indicate that gender and disability components of employment equity seem to be largely ignored, in contravention of the Employment Equity Act.
Employers demonstrate a lack of commitment to gender transformation, with no coherent gender transformation policies, and little evidence of targets and strategies, inclusive of targeted skills development programmes, and designated responsibility for transformation, measured through performance management mechanisms.
The CGE will shortly table in Parliament its employment equity hearings report and recommendations, and engage with the EEC and the Department of Labour in this regard. The CGE welcomes the proposed amendments to the Employment Equity Act to tighten accountability and compliance, with the hope that such measures will ensure that women, and women with disabilities in particular, benefit from employment equity and transformation initiatives.
