Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen announced on Thursday that his party will be undertaking mass protest action in Cape Town, on July 26, against employment race quotas, and the party is demanding that the Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEAA), implemented by Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi, be scrapped.  

Steenhuisen urged South Africans who value non-racialism, fair access to jobs and a thriving private economy to join the party and stated that if the Act is implemented, it is estimated that 600 000 people will lose their jobs because they have the “wrong” skin colour or live and work in the “wrong” areas.

The DA leader congratulated trade union Solidarity for managing to reach an agreement with government to amend the regulations to recognise that race-based affirmative action must be temporary.

Solidarity and government reached a settlement in a process, conducted under the auspices of the International Labour Organisation, in which it was agreed that there can be no absolute prohibition on employing people based on race, and that skills must be taken into account.

However, Steenhuisen warned that for as long as the EEAA provisions give the Labour Minister arbitrary powers to determine racial quotas for private companies, the risk remains that these quotas will be enforced.

The DA will continue with its High Court Application to declare the Act unconstitutional.

“South African society is going to defeat the ANC’s race quotas because we are standing as one against this destructive policy. We must now build on this unity of purpose to ensure the success of the Moonshot Pact, which will see opposition parties uniting to form a viable alternative that can defeat the ANC’s destructive policies and inaugurate a new government next year to rescue South Africa,” Steenhuisen said.