Pretoria - Drastic changes are needed to improve employment equality in the workplace, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Wednesday.
Mdladlana told journalists the employment equity report, which will be released on Thursday, "really does not look good".
He said the way in which employers sought to address equality in the workplace and how government ensured that need to be tweaked.
"We need do to something dramatic and drastic. If we see people are dragging their feet then we need to give them wheels."
He said it was not only a question of a racial equality but also of empowering the disabled and women.
He said 10 years since the first employment equality report government could not continued to hope that things will simple change without transforming the way it approach the situation.
He hopes to increase fines, limit the time given to companies to comply and put the onus on the employer to prove innocence.
"The battle is on. The president (Jacob Zuma) wants us to do things differently, quick and fast.
"It makes one angry because it is almost like we are begging for people to see equality," said Mdladlana.
- Sapa