Minister of Labour, Ms Mildred Oliphant,
Deputy Minister of Labour, Inkosi Patekile Holomisa,
Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi
Members of Parliament,
Acting Chairperson of the Commission for Employment Equity, Ms Tabea Kabinde,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Evening. Goeie Naand. Dumelang.

It is a great pleasure to address the inaugural Employment Equity Awards.

This is a fitting platform to recognise and reward employers who excel in embodying the true spirit of transformation in the workplace.

These awards coincide with the 60 year anniversary of the Freedom Charter, in which delegates from diverse backgrounds declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.

This was a bold statement that all South Africans have an equal right not only to citizenship, but an equal right to the wealth the country produces and the opportunities it provides.

Our task, six decades later, is to work together to have those rights realised.

The Employment Equity Act of 1998 sought to give meaning to the Constitutional imperative to achieve social justice and equality.

This Act aims to promote the constitutional right of equality through eliminating unfair discrimination in employment.

More than that, it aims to redress the effects of discrimination and achieve a diverse workforce broadly representative of our people.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Employment equity is at the centre of our journey from a reviled and discriminatory system to an inclusive society built on shared prosperity.

It is about putting mechanisms and instruments in place to ensure that we forge a society where everyone has the opportunity to embrace their full potential without the threat of unfair discrimination.

This is a necessary project to unearth our human capital by exploiting its full, diverse demographic dividend.

In a document published in 1994, Albie Sachs wrote:
“Affirmative action is a matter of doing right, but it is more than that, it is a question of survival.
 
“If our country and every region and city in it is divided into manifestly rich and flagrantly poor areas, there will never be social peace…
 
“We have to free the capacities of millions of people who have never had a real chance to show their mettle.
 
“Widening the pool of candidates for any post should lead to greater competence, not less.”

Distinguished Guests,

These awards reinforce the notion that we must all take employment equity seriously and not reduce it to meeting compliance targets.

We must approach it with an understanding that employment equity is really about maximising the human potential of all South Africans.

Diversity in the workplace is critical for nation building and social cohesion.

It contributes to the development of a country that is based on inclusion, not exclusion; on dignity, not dehumanisation; on opportunity, not marginalisation.

Without equity, our workplaces will never truly be South African.

Without equity, prejudice and ignorance thrive.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Discrimination takes many forms and affects different groups of people.

Much of the work we are doing focuses on righting the injustices suffered by the majority – black people and women.

But we should be careful not to neglect other groups of people who are also exposed to discrimination and marginalisation.

People with disability may constitute only a small section of our population, but their exclusion is no less painful.

The lack of opportunity is, for them, no less devastating.

Their rights are no less important.

And because they are in a minority, their cause is much less prominent.

Not only do they experience discrimination in the workplace, they also experience discrimination at school, in communities, in broader society.

Affirming people with disability requires not only a more deliberate approach to recruitment, employment and promotion.

It also requires that we confront the notion that a disability renders a person incapable.

It requires that, as employers, we recognise the impediments that people with disability face and take active measures to remove them.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Women in the workforce also face impediments.

Many experience discriminatory practices such as pay inequality, sexual harassment, and intimidation.

It is a cause for concern that despite improvements in educational qualifications, women occupy few senior positions in government and even fewer in the private sector.

The National Development Plan argues that “the transformation of the economy should involve the active participation and empowerment of women.”

Preference for males over females in most of the sectors of our economy continues.

More women are employed in low-skilled jobs that attract low pay.

Yet to advance the position of women in the workplace, we need to recognise that many of the impediments are rooted in social norms and practices.

We need to address social expectations about the role of women in the family – and assert that men are parents too.

Company policies, practices and attitudes need to accommodate the possibility of shared parenting.

Corporate culture often inhibits the advancement of women.

Where women are in the minority, their concerns and interests are often not reflected in company practices and they are often excluded from social interactions and informal networks.

Education is central to the empowerment of women.

Every effort needs to be made to keep female students in school and tertiary institutions.

Women are most successful in countries where there is high female enrolment in schools and universities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As we transform the workplace, we must transform society.

We must ensure that all our people share in the wealth of this country.

That means, among other things, that we must affirm blacks in general and Africans in particular in all institutions and in all places of work.

The Act also requires that employers take measures to progressively reduce disproportionate levels of pay between different categories of employees.

This seeks to address the broader challenge of wage inequality, which diminishes the quality of life of many working people.

It recognises that in a great many companies, most of the low-paying positions are occupied by black people and most of the senior positions by white people.

There is a responsibility on employers to take active measures to address these disparaties.

We urge them to follow the example of the cement company PPC, which took a decision in 2013 to cut the pay of its CEO by R1 million and freeze the pay of its top 60 managers to improve the wages of its 1,200 lowest earners.

We must craft an approach that affirms all those who suffered discrimination and exclusion in a manner that promotes cohesion and unity.

We recognise that, in practice, this is not always straightforward.

If not managed properly, it can establish new forms of marginalisation and lead to resentment.

We therefore appreciate and applaud those employers that are being honoured here this evening.

They have grappled with these challenges and they have succeeded.

For them, transformation has become an essential part of their being.

They are not implementing it begrudgingly or half-heartedly.

These are companies that are discovering and embracing the benefits of bringing South Africans together to share values and create shared value.

They understand that compliance is not an end in itself, but rather a means to an end.

They seek a diverse, representative workplace that secures inclusive growth and shared success.

I hope that the organisations we are celebrating today will be an example to others.

We would like to see them leading workshops on employment equity best practice.

Employment equity is truly about socio-economic development.

It makes business sense to those companies that seek growth.

Congratulations to all finalists and winners tonight.

Your exemplary conduct must encourage the critics of employment equity to realise that there is value in actively empowering those that were denied opportunities in the past.

It is in our hands to make South Africa a home where blacks and whites, men and women, the young and the elderly, and those living with disability feel and experience that they truly belong.

I thank you.