National labour department must lead transformation

28 July 2015

The ANC noted with concern the fact that the Western Cape under premier Helen Zille’s DA-run government remains the most untransformed province in South Africa with workers of the former coloured group the most underrepresented of all in the latest Commission for Employment Equity (EE) Annual Report for 2013 to 2014.

The ANC has seen for years now that Zille in fact took the Western Cape back to old order figures and even refused to appoint a more representative executive council (MEC’s) and has regressed since the last report by replacing an EE retiring head of a department by another white. Whites remain the most over representative group in all senior, professional and skilled categories across the provincial demography.

The ANC maintains transformation and EE is important for the elimination of the perpetuation of our racial past, gender and disability discrimination. It is also noted that Zille attacks the messenger and discredits the report every year as part of a deception to campaign to claim things are much better than portrayed in hard and cold facts and figures.

One of the starkest indications in the report is that 52,4% of the Western Cape’s economic active population is of the coloured group, but in many cases they are far less or even less than half of the number of whites (the group accounts for 16% of workers, but the report found they are “generally overrepresented” where they occupy 64,1% of senior management positions with all sectors combined). Africans who represent 31,2% of the provincial population are underrepresented.

ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman says: "It is a travesty that the DA government allows its own figures to slip.

“The DA deception does not help coloured people. The report says ‘much more needs to be done in order to increase their representation’ at senior management level and generally. White women also ‘appear to be doing particularly well’. African people living with disabilities are the least represented in the Western Cape.

“Looking at all government positions, coloured people are still lagging behind whites at all levels. The trends of underrepresentation of coloured and even African people at especially top positions are also visible on local government, non-profit organisations, state owned enterprises and the private sector.”

The ANC calls on the national department of labour to intervene and assist the province to deal with EE and Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment as it seems the DA and Zille does not know what and how to guide this process. The ANC says national government must investigate each of the provincial departments for noncompliance to the guidelines and laws.

Statement issued by ANC Western Cape leader, Marius Fransman, July 28 2015