Staff writer and Francois Jordaan
There are two new amendments to the Employment Equity Act currently on the table, one of which goes hand in hand with changes to sectoral targets. These targets could pose serious difficulties for agencies with more than fifty employees. The good news for smaller agencies with less than 50 employees, is that they will not be affected. The question however is, are your agents, employees, or independent contractors? The answer to this question could have far-reaching implications.
Francois Jordaan, internal legal advisor for Quality Time Marketing (a VOASA member organisation), takes a look at what these amendments could have in store for the real estate industry.
Two notable amendments to the Employment Equity Act are the amendment of ‘designated employer’ and the authority granted to the Minister of Labour, who can now identify and determine numerical targets that will drive transformation across different occupational levels. The definition of ‘designated employer’ now excludes anyone who employs less than fifty employees, regardless of turnover, consequently making them exempt from the targets.
The proposed sectoral targets were gazetted for public comment on 12 May 2023, allowing interested parties thirty days to comment until 12 June.
The Regulations stipulate race and gender targets in various economic sectors per industry and on a national and provincial level. No guidelines are given as to how these economic sectors are to be interpreted, which will no doubt lead to anomalies. Should the numerical targets be accepted in their current form, designated employers will be left with significant practical issues when determining the number of employees of each demographic to include in the Employment Equity Plan.
The following table includes data from Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for Quarter 1, 2023:
| Employment by Occupation – South Africa | ||
| Description | Number | Percentage |
| Manager | 1,356,000 | 8.37% |
| Professional | 1,218,000 | 7.52% |
| Technician | 1,476,000 | 9.12% |
| Clerk | 1,747,000 | 10.79% |
| Sales and Services | 2,706,000 | 16.71% |
| Skilled agriculture | 68,000 | 0.42% |
| Craft and related trade | 1,724,000 | 10.65% |
| Plant and machine operator | 1,274,000 | 7.87% |
| Elementary | 3,824,000 | 23.62% |
| Domestic worker | 797,000 | 4.92% |
| Other | 2,000 | 0.01% |
| Total | 16,192,000 | 100.00% |
While the description of the data does not align completely with the categories given in the Regulations, it does show the percentage of people in the South African workforce at the different occupational levels. The draft Regulations are proposing targets in top and senior management, professionally qualified and skilled levels. These categories only represent around 25% of the South African workforce. The numbers, in their current form, contain such small percentages that they require a significant staff size before they can be meaningfully adhered to.
For example, on a national level, the target for Indian males and females is 0.7% each. This would require 143 employees at the top management level before it equates to one Indian employee. From a timeshare resort perspective, there are typically five or fewer people in top and senior management which means it would not be financially feasible or logical to increase that number by 2,860%. Even an increase of one or two employees in these classes would not be sustainable in most instances.
These issues are prevalent at all occupational levels, especially for smaller designated employers. Other issues that the Legislator needs to clarify include the existence of 0% targets – which could be interpreted as a barrier to entry to work for certain designated groups. Furthermore, it could require employers to take drastic measures to terminate the employment of these people or face penalties for non-compliance with legislation.
While these numerical issues can be used as the reason for non-compliance, the targets should not be so vague or practically impossible to implement that it renders compliance impossible.
The NPPC and its members are commenting on the matter, and the impracticalities raised.
