Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana insisted on Friday that he would not apologise for errors in a ”name-and-shame” campaign.
Speaking at the Black Managers’ Forum conference in Durban, Mdladlana said: ”I am not going to apologise to anyone.”
Mdladlana said that those companies that submitted equity reports under different names were at fault.
He issued a stern warning to 1 296 employers he claimed had not submitted equity reports for 2005.
”Clear your house before we come,” he said.
Mdladlana last month landed in hot water when the names of at least 10 JSE-listed companies, initially criticised by the minister for failing to adhere to employment equity legislation, lodged sharp denials.
In the ”name-and-shame” campaign he had said the companies failed to submit the reports. However, it emerged that many of them had filed reports, but possibly under different names.
Mdladlana said companies were not hiding from the way they addressed employment equity, but he was ”very disappointed” at how the companies addressed employment equity.
In a hard-hitting speech he also accused Shoprite of ”arrogance of a tall order” when it announced the salary of the chief executive Whitey Basson as it was handling employees’ wage negotiations.
Basson received a salary increase of R9,9-million, or 30%, as striking workers demanded 10% and eventually settled for an 8,54 % increase.
Referring to the job market, he said young people were emerging with skills from many tertiary institutions that left them unemployed.
”It is a very sad thing what we are doing to our young people,” he said.
He said despite problems with the Construction, Education and Training Authority (Ceta) he believed that the Ceta boards were necessary.
”I will defend them with my life. I still believe in them, but they have not been managed properly,” he said.
Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni lamented the high turnover in black professional staff.
He said it saddened him to have people trained at the Bank only to see them leave for greener pastures.
”People who have stayed at the Bank have become well known experts [in their field],” he said. — Sapa