The noose on companies violating employment-equity laws is to be tightened, the Labour Department said on Thursday.
It quoted Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana as saying earlier this week: ”The issue of employment-equity violation is going to be my project next year.”
Mdladlana said equity reports indicate there has not been much movement in higher echelons in terms of race and gender.
”Skills-development reports [also] indicate that only 2% of people with disabilities are participating in our programmes despite new incentives we have introduced,” he said. ”These are the kinds of things that make people uncomfortable.”
The minister was addressing the launch of a new computer-literacy skills centre for people with disabilities in Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mdladlana said: ”Employers are still shunning people with disabilities when it comes to providing them with jobs.”
In September, Mdladlana issued a stern warning to more than 1 200 companies he claimed had not submitted equity reports for last year. The warning caused much controversy when several JSE-listed companies denied that they had failed to adhere to employment-equity legislation. — Sapa, I-Net Bridge