The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has condemned the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) legal challenge to the Employment Equity Amendment Act describing it as a direct attack on South Africa’s constitutional values of redress and equality.
This comes as the DA heads to the Pretoria High Court over the Employment Equity Amendment Act, threatening to reignite tensions within the already fragile Government of National Unity (GNU). The DA claims the Act, which introduces sector-specific equity targets, will damage the economy and impose rigid national race quotas in the workplace.
In a statement, the ANCYL accused the DA of attempting to reverse the gains of transformation and racial justice by seeking to have the Act declared unconstitutional.
The party’s application targets Section 15A and the Minister of Employment and Labour’s authority to set sector-specific equity targets, provisions the Youth League says are central to correcting historical injustice.
“This Act is not about quotas, it is about justice. It is about correcting decades of deliberate exclusion of black people, women, and persons with disabilities from meaningful economic participation,” said ANCYL Secretary General Mntuwoxolo Ngudle.
The Youth League pointed to ongoing disparities in the labour market, citing the 2023 Commission for Employment Equity report, which shows that white South Africans, who make up less than 8% of the population, still occupy over 60% of top management roles in the private sector.
At the same time, nearly 60% of black youth between the ages of 15 and 34 remain unemployed, compared to under 10% of white youth, according to 2024 data from Stats SA.
Ngudle added, “The DA’s arguments that the Act violates the dignity of those not ‘preferred’ are not only legally flawed but morally bankrupt. Dignity cannot be used as a shield to preserve inequality.”
The ANCYL also criticised the support the DA has received from organisations such as Solidarity, Afriforum, and the Institute of Race Relations, describing them as “groups that have consistently stood against transformation and who now attempt to dress up the defence of white interests in the language of constitutionalism.”
Ngudle said the Youth League views this court case as part of a broader strategy to undermine transformative legislation and halt South Africa’s progress towards a non-racial, non-sexist society.
“We call on all progressive formations, trade unions, and civil society to stand united in defence of the Employment Equity Amendment Act,” said Ngudle.
“Let it be known: the youth of this country will not allow the DA or any of its allies to turn back the clock on justice and equity. We will mobilise, we will educate, and we will defend the gains of our hard-won democracy,” he said.
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