Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi has called on Cabinet to “urgently review legislation and regulations”, stating that employment equity (EE) “needs to be seen as a catalyst for change”.

Upon receiving the twenty-first iteration of the Commission for Employment Equity’s (CEE’s) annual report and the 2020 EE Public Register of all designated employers on the status of workplace transformation, on June 25, the Minister lamented the “snail’s pace of transformation”.

He called for an “urgent mindset change” in the overall approach and for more aggressive strategies to be implemented to advance the Employment Equity Act’s (EEA’s) transformation goals.

The EEA came into being in 1998 to promote equal opportunity and fair treatment in employment through the elimination of unfair discrimination, implementing affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups and to ensure their equitable representation in all occupational levels in the workforce.

The CEE gives a broad overview of the transformation patterns in the South African labour market and reflects on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on designated employers in relation to the implementation of the EEA.

The economic impact of the pandemic has left a trail of economic challenges, with some of the latest trends indicating that the impact can be seen in the number of designated employers that deregistered with the director-general.

The most common reason for de-registration was that employers were no longer designated as per the definition of the EEA.

Overall, the report found that white and Indian population groups in South Africa still remained dominant at top and senior management levels, while remaining under-represented at the semi-skilled and unskilled occupational levels.

CEE chairperson Tabea Kabinde said this “continues to follow the patterns created by apartheid policies”, adding that “it is also noteworthy that the White and Indian females also continue to dominate the top two tiers of management”.

Thus, in terms of race and gender intersectionality, Kabinde stressed that the latest report finds that “African and coloured females continue to bear the brunt of discrimination”.

The high percentage representation of foreign nationals at the unskilled occupational level also remains of great concern to the CEE, as this means that South African nationals are being denied opportunities for employment, while these are extended to foreign nationals at a higher rate.

“This is disconcerting given the high rate of unemployment in our country,” Kabinde said.

As demonstrated in previous CEE reports, this report also confirms that the pace of transformation continues to be slow.

REPORT FINDINGS

There was a decrease of 492 (1.8%) in the number of reports received, from 27 127 in 2019 to 26 635 in 2020.

About 43.8% of reports received were from Gauteng, followed by 20.8% from the Western Cape and 14.8% from KwaZulu-Natal, while 18.3% of the reports received were from the manufacturing sector, followed by 14.4% from wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, 14.3% from agriculture, forestry and fishing and 9.4% from construction.

A total of 25 336 reports were received from the private sector, covering more than 5.1-million employees in 2020, which amounted to 95.1% of all reports received.

At top management level, the report found that 64.7% of the positions were occupied by whites; followed by 15.8% Africans; 10.6% Indians; 5.7% coloureds and 3.1% foreign nationals.

Males occupied 75.1% and females 24.9% of the positions.

About 51.6% of the positions were occupied by white males, followed by 13.1% white females and 10.1% African males.

Persons with disabilities held 1.6% of positions at this level.

Whites occupied 85.6% of top jobs in the agriculture sector, 75.3% in real estate and 74.6% in accommodation and food services.

Africans occupied 60.8% of the positions in national government and whites occupied 67.8% of the positions in the private sector, while about 52.6% of all training and 48.1% of recruitment consisted of whites at this occupational level.

At senior management level, 52.5% of the positions were occupied by whites; followed by 24.7% Africans; 11.6% Indians; 8% coloureds and 3.1% foreign nationals.

Males occupied 64.3% and females 35.7% of the positions, while 34.7% of the positions were occupied by white males, followed by 17.8% white females and 15.1% African males.

Persons with disabilities constituted 1.3% at this level.

Whites occupied 75.9% of positions in agriculture, forestry and fishing, followed by 68.3% in real estate at this occupational level.

Africans occupied 76.4% of the positions in provincial government; 60.7% in State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) and whites occupied 57.3% of the positions in educational institutions.

About 39.3% of training, 47.1% of recruitment and 41.7% of promotions accrued to whites at this level.

At the professionally qualified level, the report found that about 46.7% of the positions were occupied by Africans, followed by 32.1% whites, 9.7% coloureds, 9.1% Indians and 2.4% foreign nationals.

Males occupied 52.3% and females 47.7% of the positions, while 24% of the positions were occupied by African females, followed by 22.7% African males, 18.2% white males and 14% white females.

Persons with disabilities constituted 1.3% of the positions at this level, while Africans occupied 78.2% in the arts, entertainment and recreation, followed by 69% in water supply, sewerage, waste management and 65.8% public administration and defence.

Africans occupied 70.4% of the positions in nonprofit organisations (NPOs), followed 67.1% in national government and 63.5% in local government.

About 46% of the training opportunities, 44% of recruitment and 51.4% of promotions consisted of Africans at this level.

At the skilled technical level, 63.7% of the positions were occupied by Africans, followed by 17.6% whites, 11.6% coloureds, 5.4% Indians and 1.7% foreign nationals.

Males occupied 51.2% and females 48.8% of the positions, while around 32.3% of the positions were occupied by African males, followed by 31.4% African females, 9% white males and 8.6% white females.

Persons with disabilities constituted 1.1% of the positions at the skilled technical level.

Africans, meanwhile, occupied 87.6% of positions in the arts, entertainment and recreation segment, followed by 78.1% in administrative and support activities, 75.8% in public administration and defence; compulsory social security and 75.4% in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities at this level.

Africans occupied 79.7% of positions in the nonprofit organisations, 75.9% in national government and 75.4% in SOEs at this level, while about 71.1% of recruitment and 64.1% of promotions consisted of Africans.

At the semi-skilled level, 78.6% of the positions were occupied by Africans, followed by 11.8% coloureds, 4.9% whites, 2.5% Indians and 2.2% foreign nationals.

Males occupied 55.3% and females 44.7% at this level, while 44.4% of the positions were occupied by African males, followed by 31.4% African females, 9% white males and 8.6% white females.

Persons with disabilities constituted 1.1% of all the positions at semi-skilled level.

Africans occupied 89.8% in administrative and support activities, followed by 86.2% in the arts, entertainment and recreation and 86.1% in water supply, sewerage, waste management at this level.

Africans occupied 87.7% of the positions in provincial government; followed by 87.2% in NPOs and 85.4% in SOEs.

About 80.8% Africans of training and 75.7% of recruitment consisted of Africans at this level.

At the unskilled level, about 83.7% of the positions were occupied by Africans, followed by 10.9% coloureds, 0.7%, Indians, 0.9% whites and 3.7% foreign nationals.

Males occupied 57% and females 43% of the positions at this level, and 47.4% of the positions were occupied by African males, followed by 36.3% African females and 5.6% coloured males.

Persons with disabilities constituted 1.3% of the positions at the unskilled level.

Africans occupied 92.2% in arts, entertainments and recreation, followed by 91.4% in administrative and support activities and 90.1% electricity, gas and steam.

Africans occupied 91.5% in SOEs, followed by 91.3 in provincial government, 90.4% in national government and 86.9% in NPOs.

About 86.4% of training, 82.3% of recruited and 82.6% of promotions constituted Africans at this level.