Companies that did not comply with the October 1 deadline to submit reports on employment equity can expect no mercy and face a minimum fine of R500 000, the Department of Labour said on Thursday.
”Companies will be given no mercy at all. Those who did not submit will be liable to a minimum fine of R500 000 and if they continue not complying with the law, we could even recommend prosecution of the company,” said Snuki Zikalala on behalf of Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana.
Zikalala said an extension of the October 1 deadline was not an option at all and no late submissions would be accepted.
The Labour Ministry has previously granted extensions to businesses employing more than 150 employees when they did not respond on time in 2001 and 2002.
The manager of the employment equity directorate, Lusani Nevhutalu, said on Thursday that by October 1 it had received about 2 000 submissions.
”This is an improvement on what happened in the past,” he said, comparing the 2 000 submissions with only 53 at the corresponding time during 2001/2002.
According to Nevhutalu the minimum fine was R500 000 and the maximum fine R900 000, but the overall fine could increase substantially to almost R3-million depending on the number of transgressions.
He said it was important for companies to comply with legislation so that the government could measure its own objectives, and also see what plans were afoot in companies and the progress they were making with regard to implementing employment equity policies.
One of the country’s largest business chambers, the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob), and the National Federation Chambers of Commerce (Nafcoc) said they had encouraged members to comply.
”We sent circulars to remind members of the deadline and also to offer assistance … I think everybody will have submitted their reports because it was well advertised and we encouraged members,” said Sacob labour policy executive Carol O’Brien.
Nafcoc secretary general Buhle Mthethwa was unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, the Black Management Forum (BMF) said it believed that monitoring the implementation of the legislation was an area of weakness.
”We are currently engaged in discussions with the Commission for Employment Equality — an advisory group to the labour minister — and the Department of Labour to look at monitoring and to find ways to make the process much more watertight,” said BMF managing director Nolitha Fakude.
She said it seemed as if the private sector was lagging behind the public and government sectors, ”probably because they weren’t clear on implementation”.
The employment equity legislation is intended to promote equal opportunity, to prevent unfair discrimination and to ensure equitable representation of designated groups, such as blacks, women and the disabled, at all levels of the workplace. — Sapa