Mr Speaker, hon Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, there are not many things in life that are predictable -except that the ANC will win the elections next year. [Applause.] The ANC will win not because of its beautiful colours, but because of its track record as a champion of progress. The other predictable matter is the poor transformation track record of this country. It is so predictable that you can almost write an accurate introduction to the 2014 Employment Equity report today.
Achieving the real transformation of South African society has proven to be so tough that it seems as if it will take us 48 years, just as long as it took the ANC with all its organs to smash apartheid. While the fight for affirmative action makes sense when it is the minority seeking the levelling of the playing field, it is absurd when it is the majority that is begging for redress. It is somewhat preposterous that the majority is struggling to be affirmed in a country where they are in power.
How can a fraction of the population continue to hold the affirmation of the large majority of the society to ransom? It is even worse that this is happening when the majority is in power. I have come to accept that black people are generally a very kind, patient and forgiving lot. Please do not get me wrong: I am not for one moment suggesting that this is a bad attribute - far from it. However, what worries me and many others is the propensity to rubbish the country's transformation efforts and, at worst, to place political roadblocks in the path to a transformed society.
Someone once remarked that one of the reasons that the South African industrial relations environment has become so adversarial is the unacceptable and almost annoying levels of inequality. He pointed out that the levels of inequality in our country remain a recipe for instability. The gap between the rich and the poor is so frighteningly large in this country that it finds expression in many facets of our lives.
The trouble with this sorry state of affairs is that one day people are going to run out of patience and demand redress now and not tomorrow. One day it will become so difficult for the ANC to introduce legislation that is enabling and nudging that it will be forced to start introducing legislative instruments that push a bit harder. If the carrot does not yield the expected results, then you may be left with little choice but to start introducing the stick - a very big one, for that matter.
I don't understand why, in general, businesses do not take full advantage of the opportunities for self-regulation but play hide and seek until punitive measures are introduced. The employment equity legislation is a case in point. For many years, the Employment Equity Act remained merely enabling legislation, with designated employers enjoying full latitude to set their own plans, with no interference from government.
What we have gleaned from the reports of the designated employers is that they are not meeting the very targets that they themselves have set. This is tantamount to a joke - a very sick one, for that matter. The poor performance of the designated employers to meet their own targets is but an invitation for government to intervene. What has happened to the famous call of the employers for self-regulation? Just by way of illustration, after many years since the advent of Employment Equity Act, Africans occupied a mere 12,3%, Whites occupied 72,6%, coloureds occupied 4,6% and Indians occupied 7,3% of top management positions in 2012.
A new and unusual phenomenon is the number of non-South Africans in top management positions in 2012, which stands at 3,1% compared to 0% in 2002. It seems to me that you need to be a non-South African in this country if you want the Employment Equity Act to work for you. This picture is a source of sadness, and it is not a true reflection of what many people fought for in this country. Yet there are still those who are calling for a sunset clause on employment equity. On what basis, if I may ask, when the sun has not even risen? Those who are making this call are mischievous and disingenuous at best or, at worst, contemptuous of our history.
This democracy has worked very hard for business and it continues to do so. The key, though, is whether or not business has reciprocated by investing in the transformation agenda. I am afraid the answer is a big no, they haven't. Generally, there is sufficient consensus that the Employment Equity Amendment Bill tackles the correct issues and it is spot on regarding what needs to be done.
What has happed to the progressive business leaders of the past? You will recall that in the mid-1980s, progressive business formations such as the SA Consultative Committee on Labour Affairs, Saccola, argued that business in South Africa had to start doing things differently if they had any hope of influencing and shaping the inevitable new order. The top employer industrialists in this country also understood the role industrial relations would play as the workplace became the terrain of conflict. To pursue this new thinking, business created a consultative forum as a platform through which they could engage the Mass Democratic Movement and the ANC in exile.
In 1988, the old government proposed new amendments to the Labour Relations Act, which included things that were aimed at reversing the gains of workers achieved over many years of struggle. The proposed amendments triggered mass action and strikes of the same, if not greater, proportions than those last seen in the period of 1973. This was the first trigger and a real test to determine if business, under the umbrella of Saccola, was genuine about their resolve to find a new way of doing things in South Africa.
The Bill before us is very mild; those who are complaining either have no appreciation of the challenge at hand or they just don't care. The proposed stick in the Bill, proverbially speaking, is a mere smack on the palm and nothing to rave about. If we really cared about the vulnerable workers and the victims of our ugly past, the Bill should go through without too much farce.
If we truly loved our country and our Constitution and what it stands for, then this Bill should be welcomed with open arms. The ANC cares - and this is not just a slogan. This Bill and what it proposes bear true testimony to how much we care. The Bill takes into account all the issues raised in the Regulatory Impact Assessment exercise and we are convinced that the socioeconomic benefits far outweigh the negatives.
We are also pleased that the Bill is, by and large, the product of robust engagement by the social partners at Nedlac. [Interjections.] Which side are you on - the poor or the rich and well-off? The ANC is for the wellbeing of all, with a bias towards the poor. If things continue like this, we may have to consider making compliance with the Employment Equity Act a precondition to doing business with the state. The ANC supports this Bill. [Applause.]