Solidarity and other organisations sign resolution against race law
6 June 202
Solidarity, together with around 30 other organisations today signed a resolution to fight the proposed amendments to the Employment Equity Act. Political parties, including the DA, Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA, opinion makers and other organisations attended this workshop during which the resolution was signed.
In the resolution, the participants involved undertake to reject the government’s system of social manipulation and to protest against the law. This law and its regulations give power to the minister of employment and labour to manipulate the South African society based on their skin colour.
Participants to the programme and discussions included Flip Buys, John Steenhuisen, Pieter Groenewald, Piet le Roux, Gerhard Papenfus, Sihle Ngobese, Renè Govender, Phumlani Majozi and Theuns Eloff.
The Solidarity Research Institute’s (SRI) impact study on the consequences of this legislation was announced during the workshop. This study found that not only will thousands of minorities have to vacate their jobs, but there is also proof about the ill-considered way in which the government went about when drafting this legislation.
“The government’s political games will cause a bloodbath in the labour market. It poses a threat to the country’s economy and to the well-being of South African citizens. Civil society realises this too. It is for this reason that we have gathered at this workshop. It shows that South Africans from across the spectrum will not tolerate such absurdities, and that we are all prepared to put up a fight against the government’s abuses.
“Today we made history. It was one of the largest gatherings of political parties and civic organisations to date. Everyone who was present shares the conviction that we have to take decisive action against the abuse from the government. It was decided from within the workshop ranks that every organisation and party will from here on continue to oppose this race law, and we have signed a joint resolution in which we commit ourselves to this. This injustice will simply not be tolerated anymore,” Dr Dirk Hermann, Solidarity chief executive said.
Click here to download the resolution, report and other documents.
Click here to download photos taken at the workshop.
Resolution No to race law 6 June 2023
We, the undersigned, along with dozens of other organisations and millions of others hereby place on record our protest against the government’s latest race law and regulations.
We represent businesspeople, political parties, trade unions, agricultural organisations, educational organisations and numerous other civic organisations.
We will, each in our own way, record our protest against the law.
We reject a system of social engineering that grants power to the Minister of Employment and Labour to manipulate South African society on the basis of race.
We call on the South African government to tackle education and training to create a sound, skilled labour market.
The guidelines of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on special measures for redress and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) state, among others, that special measures must be temporary, cannot focus solely on race, must focus on the socio-economic position of people and must emphasise training and development.
We call on the South African government to adhere to the ILOs and ICERD guidelines.
We also call on international forums to put pressure on the government to keep to international norms.
Our protest is not just against a law and its regulations, but it is also about the economy that must grow and create jobs for the benefit of all.
Statement issued by Connie Mulder, Head: Solidarity Research Institute (SRI), 6 June 2023
