After years of the FF Plus fighting against racial laws, a united and far-reaching front is now forming

6 June 2023

After decades of fighting against policy and laws based solely on race, implemented by the ANC government, a united and far-reaching front against the matter was formed today.

Political parties, including the FF Plus, businesspeople, trade unions, agricultural organisations, educational organisations and many other civil organisations adopted a resolution on behalf of millions of South Africans, which opposes the Employment Equity Amendment Act that imposes strict quotas for the workplace and is entirely subject to the ANC's discretion.

This law is representative of all laws and regulations that direct Affirmative Action (AA) and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), which the FF Plus has been strongly opposing since its foundation. These policies achieved the exact opposite of what they were meant to, and that is the sole reason why the country is teetering on the edge of economic ruin.

The biggest drawback of the ANC's racial laws is that nobody was empowered and no injustices have been redressed. On the contrary, under these policies, new and more injustices were committed while only a handful of individuals with direct ties to the ANC benefited. The rest of the population is becoming severely impoverished with unemployment being sky-high and national infrastructure crumbling to the detriment of everyone in the country, both white and black.

In terms of the resolution that was adopted at a workshop presented by Solidarity in Centurion, every person or group that can align themselves with it must in their own way register their protest against the Employment Equity Amendment Act.

The resolution states, among other things, that the undersigned parties reject a system of social manipulation, which affords the Minister of Labour and Employment absolute power to manipulate the South African society based on race.

The South African government is, furthermore, called on to turn education and training around so as to create a healthy and skilled labour market.

The guidelines of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on redress and the United Nations (UN) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) state, among other things, that special measures must be temporary, cannot be solely focused on race, should focus on people's socio-economic position, and emphasise training and development.

The resolution also calls on government to adhere to the guidelines of the ILO and ICERD.

In addition, the resolution calls on international forums to put pressure on government to stay within the constraints of international norms on race.

The FF Plus welcomes this development and views it as a clear sign of growing public opposition to government, which will culminate at the polls next year.

Text of resolution:

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.

ENDS

Statement issued by Heloïse Denner, FF Plus MP and chief spokesperson: Labour, 6 June 2023