The Democratic Alliance (DA) has filed an application in the Pretoria high court challenging the employment equity quotas in the Employment Equity Amendment Act which it says are merely “racial exclusion under a new name”.
(Photo by Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has filed an application in the Pretoria high court challenging the employment equity quotas in the Employment Equity Amendment Act which it says are merely “racial exclusion under a new name”.
DA spokesperson on labour Michael Bagraim said the party was taking the Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhosazana Meth to court on 6 May to challenge the Act which became law in January 2025.
It sets hiring quotas for 18 economic sectors, from mining and transport to construction and agriculture, in a bid to increase employment opportunities for “designated groups” including blacks, women and people living with disabilities.
Companies with 50 or more employees must align their employment equity plans with the new sector-specific targets and these must be implemented between 1 September 2025 and 31 August 2030.
Bagraim said his party had launched a “constitutional challenge” to Section 15A of the Act, which introduces “rigid national race quotas” in the workplace.
The law is one of several pieces of legislation and policies the government has implemented since the fall of apartheid in 1994 in what it says is a drive to reverse the racial inequalities which favoured white people.
“We are taking the minister of employment and labour to court because Section 15A represents a radical and harmful departure from previous employment equity law. These quotas will destroy jobs, undermine the economy and violate the constitutional rights of all South Africans,” Bagraim said.
Section 15A represented a “radical and harmful” departure from previous employment equity law.
“Where companies once set their own equity goals, based on context and the available labour force, they are now compelled to meet government-imposed demographic targets, regardless of skills, local realities or business viability,” Bagraim said.
“It is about protecting people’s rights under the Constitution, the rule of law and the livelihoods of South Africans. The DA believes that real redress does not mean implementing policies that bring more division. We believe that true transformation can only be achieved by focusing on inclusive economic growth that creates opportunity for all.”
He said the legal argument against the amendment was two-fold, focusing on “constitutional invalidity” and “abuse of state power”.
“Section 15A violates Section 9 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law and prohibits unfair discrimination. A law that forces employers to fire or refuse to hire people based on race, whether they are black, coloured, Indian or white, is not redress. It is unconstitutional discrimination,” Bagraim said.
He added that the minister’s powers under Section 15A were “vague, unchecked and dangerously broad”.
“The so-called ‘targets’ are not guidelines — they are binding quotas, enforceable under threat of penalties of up to 10% of a company’s turnover. The law empowers the minister to impose these quotas with no clear criteria, violating the Dawood principle, which says public officials must be guided by intelligible and clear legal standards,” he said.
“This is not just a theoretical concern. The final quotas, published last week, make it virtually impossible for some communities, particularly coloured workers in the Western Cape and Indian workers in KwaZulu-Natal, to find or keep jobs.
“This isn’t transformation. It is racial exclusion under a new name.”
Bagraim said the government had “tacitly” admitted that the quotas were damaging by exempting businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
“Our court action will expose the real issue — the problem is not the quotas themselves but the law that enables them. That is why we are challenging Section 15A directly, not just quotas that flow from it. Every law must be judged on whether it grows the economy and creates jobs. These quotas fail that test spectacularly.
“We are standing up for the right of every South African to be employed on the basis of their skill, character and contribution — not the colour of their skin. And we will not stop until this unconstitutional law is overturned.