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Johannesburg - The Cape Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the reported withdrawal of a proposal for national and regional demographics to be used for employment under the Employment Equity Act.
"The chamber, along with other business organisations, objected to the regulations on the grounds that they were unrealistic and unfair...," president Janine Myburgh said in a statement on Wednesday.
She said the regulations would have compelled companies to appoint people of different race groups to management positions in the same proportion as they featured in the national demographics.
The labour department has yet to confirm the withdrawal of the proposals.
BusinessDayLIVE reported this week that the proposal was withdrawn during National Economic Development and Labour Council negotiations on the draft employment equity regulations.
It reported that the move followed widespread opposition, on the grounds that the proposal would have resulted in discrimination against coloureds in the Western Cape and the Northern Cape, and against Indians in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to BusinessDayLIVE, the Democratic Alliance and trade union Solidarity had threatened to contest the regulations in court should they become law.
Myburgh said on Wednesday the decision had saved time and money on legal fights which the government could not have won as the regulations were not only unjust, but also unconstitutional.
She said the Employment Equity Act stated that it was not fair to "distinguish, exclude, or prefer any person on the basis of an inherent requirement of the job".
"In other words, businesses are allowed to employ the man or woman best able to do the job regardless of race. The operational requirements of the business must come first."
The Centre for Constitutional Rights (CFCR) has also welcomed the move.
Under the proposed regulations, "employers would have been required to consider only national demographics in respect of the promotion and appointment of certain categories of senior personnel," CFCR director Johan Kruger said on Tuesday.
He said the Constitution recognised that equality in South Africa was yet to be achieved.
But, as indicated in the CFCR's submission on the draft regulations, the Constitution, in providing for the full and equal enjoyment of all rights, did not require numerical demographic representation.
Kruger said that in pursuit of equality, restorative measures had to be balanced with all constitutional values and rights, including non-racialism.
Solidarity's centre for fair labour practices head Dirk Groenewald described the withdrawal as "a step in the right direction".
"We are still keeping options open for legal action after having undertaken earlier this year to fight the provisions in question right up to the highest courts," he said.
"It seems as if the huge public pressure brought to bear by Solidarity and others against the codes made the department rethink the matter.
"It again shows how important public pressure is, and what significant role civil organisations can play to oppose harmful laws and policies," he said.
