The report on the state of transformation in South Africa released by the Department of Labour’s Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) has confirmed beyond any doubt that over two decades into democracy black talent remains insignificant in the marketplace.
It is also clear from the report that employers are not taking advantage of incentives such as the skills levies to invest in black talent and thus propel the thousands of black graduates currently unemployed into the upper echelons within industries, while on the one hand their white counterparts are spoilt for choice.
While a number of policy changes and legislated amendments, such as the Employment Equity and BBBEE Acts, have been introduced in the last two decades to create an enabling environment for transformation to take place, the reality is that there are still deeply rooted structural impediments that continue to frustrate transformation efforts.
Furthermore, the current punitive measures to deal with lack of transformation as administered by the CEE are more like a slap on the wrist. These do not deal with substantive issues of transformation but are rather focused on compliance with the submission process by companies as part of the annual employer reports.
The BBC is of the view that unless drastic measures are taken to address this imbalance, the lack of transformation in the workplace will continue to undermine the goal of growing the employment base of black people. This has an impact on the number of participants that can significantly contribute to the economy and the building of a cohesive society where all citizens are participants to the economic prosperity of the land.
Black Business Council, BBC