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The African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday condemned the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) constitutional challenge against the Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEAA), describing it as an attempt to undermine the Act and a direct assault on the foundation of South Africa's transformation journey.

The DA will argue in court on Tuesday against what it believes is the introduction of rigid national race quotas in the workplace.

The DA will be taking Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhosazana Meth to court over Section 15A of the Act's alleged violation of Section 9 of the Constitution, which it says represents a "radical and harmful" departure from previous employment equity law.

Last week, DA spokesperson on Employment and Labour Michael Bagraim said the quotas would "destroy jobs, undermine the economy, and violate the constitutional rights of all South Africans".

ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the DA was taking "regressive action" which she said was an affront to the Constitution and undermined the sacrifices made by those who fought against apartheid.

"The National Constitution has correctly defined black as inclusive of Africans, coloureds and Indians. The DA's court challenge against Section 15A of the EEAA which introduces sector-specific numerical targets to correct racial imbalances in the workplace reveals its enduring opposition to redress and equality," said Bhengu-Motsiri.

She said the DA's campaign to label this legislation as "anti-merit" was a "wilful distortion of reality".

". . . it ignores the brutal legacy of Apartheid, which for centuries denied black South Africans the right to land, quality education, employment, and dignity. In such a context, talking about 'merit' without transformation is an insult to the millions who remain excluded," she explained.

The Employment Equity Act was not about quotas, but about justice, she said, adding that it aimed to correct structural imbalances in the economy and ensure that all South Africans had a fair shot at opportunity.

She argued that Section 15A did not eliminate merit but created the conditions in which merit could be meaningfully pursued by addressing the under-representation of Africans, coloured, and Indian South Africans in key sectors of the economy.

"This is a constitutional imperative, not a political favour. We must remind the DA and its allies that South Africa's Constitution explicitly recognises the need to redress past injustices and to achieve substantive equality," she said.

DA Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille pointed out on Monday that her party supported a redress system that encouraged economic growth, created hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and significantly improved the education and training system.

But she described the Amendment Act as draconian and said it fell far short of the required constitutional benchmark.

However, Bhengu-Motsiri said the EEAA was a critical tool in realising the vision for equality, particularly as white South Africans, who make up less than 8% of the population, still dominate top management positions in the private sector.

"The DA's persistent campaign against transformation reveals its dangerous agenda to entrench the privileges of the past and preserve the Apartheid-era economic status quo under the guise of constitutionalism. It is a betrayal of the democratic gains we have made and a slap in the face of the black working class, women, and the youth who continue to bear the brunt of inequality and unemployment," she stated.

With Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana set to table South Africa's third iteration of the 2025 national Budget to Parliament on May 21, Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso says the only way forward is to reduce expenditure within government's means.

While this exercise is politically difficult, Mavuso believes the country is in dire need of a mature and honest assessment of what parts of government are delivering value to taxpayers and which are not.

"While it is good that our Budget is subject to democratic interrogation, the Government of National Unity, as well as others in Parliament, must show they have the political bravery to make decisions that won't please everyone," she states.

She explains that government often sets up new projects and creates new spending lines, which are well and good, but not when it leads to a proliferation of entities, not all of which deliver value for money.

Mavuso attributes the difficult process to having a final, approved Budget this year to mediocre economic growth, since growth that generates government revenue effectively can lead to sustainable public spending.

South Africa's already low economic growth has been exacerbated by trade wars since February, with the economic growth expectations for the country now being markedly lower than when the first Budget was presented.

"This means there will be less tax revenue available to government as businesses become less profitable and consumers spend less.

"The situation we must budget for now is worse than it was two months ago," Mavuso points out.

To not compound the bleak economic outlook, Mavuso suggests the Budget not increase debt levels, especially since the National Treasury has worked hard to turn around the crisis that government finances were in five years ago.

Should South Africa again achieve investment-grade credit ratings, it will result in a lower cost of debt for government and the whole economy; however, if debt levels increase, investors will demand higher interest rates to buy government's debt, consume more tax money and damage economic growth.

In this scenario there are only two real choices, Mavuso explains, to increase taxes to allow for higher government revenue or to decrease expenses. Treasury initially proposed to increase the value-added tax rate to raise more revenue, but this has been roundly rejected.

In terms of other taxes, personal income and corporate taxes are already high by global standards; therefore, implementing increases to these taxes will lead to people and businesses shifting economic activity out of South Africa.

Of course, Mavuso says, there is much else the country can do to improve growth, including continuing the collaborative relationship between business and government in driving structural reforms.

She confirms that the next meeting between organised business and government is due to take place on May 9, which can take into account the impact of tariffs proposed by the US, when the stakeholders revisit the goal of delivering 3% economic growth rate by the end of the year.

"We must redouble our efforts to drive reforms to improve the performance of our economy and global conditions have just made the task more urgent. We must think carefully about how opportunities have shifted and ensure our partnership and plans are geared for the world as it now is," Mavuso says.

She stresses that the country must escape the low-growth trap it has been in for more than ten years, which will "require brave and innovative thinking" amid the new global environment.

With some people and political parties calling for South Africa's labour laws to be relaxed in response to the prevailing economic climate and high unemployment rate, President Cyril Ramaphosa argues that stimulating economic growth and job creation and retaining worker protections are not mutually exclusive.

In a weekly letter published on May 5, the President emphasises that worker rights have been found to improve productivity and thereby enhance the growth of companies and the economy, and that these are also helping to distribute the benefits of growth more equally and improve economic stability.

Moreover, South Africa's labour laws are part of the effort to overcome the structural inequality of apartheid, he points out.

He highlights progress over the past 31 years in improving labour laws and protecting workers' rights as including the introduction of a National Minimum Wage; measures to advance worker ownership in companies; and the implementation of the Employment Equity Act, which prohibits unfair discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, pregnancy and marital status.

Despite progress, there is still much work to be done to end the race-based disparities in the country's economy, Ramaphosa notes, citing the latest report of the Employment Equity Commission as evidence.

This shows that despite Africans constituting the majority of the economically active population, the majority of top management positions in the private sector are still held by white males. This trend is observed at senior management level in nearly every economic category. Black South Africans are predominantly in the semi-skilled and unskilled categories.

Therefore, while there has been much improvement since the advent of employment equity legislation, not enough has been done to change the racial composition of the ownership, control and management of the country's economy, Ramaphosa emphasises.

He adds that employment equity is not the only area where challenges remain, with the International Labour Organisation highlighting problems of compliance with labour laws in South Africa and inadequate safeguards for workers in the burgeoning informal sector.

Therefore, part of South Africa's 2025 presidency of the Group of Twenty involves engagements with labour over the consolidation of worker rights, Ramaphosa informs, highlighting "fruitful" discussions regarding this with the International Trade Union Confederation and others.

"Despite these challenges, as a country, we will continue to use our progressive labour laws to correct the imbalances of the past, and to ensure that these protections translate into tangible benefits for workers," Ramaphosa assures the public.

He calls on business in particular to take the necessary measures to ensure their workplaces reflect both the letter and spirit of laws such as the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Employment Equity Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

"Companies should go beyond compliance by actively fostering diversity and inclusion as envisaged in our Constitution by addressing historical inequalities and create opportunities for under-represented groups among their workers, such as women, the youth and persons with disabilities.

"They should also ensure that their workplaces are spaces where dignity, respect and human rights are upheld in daily practice and not just in policies," Ramaphosa emphasises.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday expressed its readiness for Tuesday's court action, in which it will argue for fair access to jobs and employment for all South Africans.

The party has launched a constitutional challenge, arguing that the Employment Equity Amendment Act discriminates "unfairly and unconstitutionally".

DA Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille pointed out that while the Constitution allowed fair discrimination to achieve redress, it must meet the fairness benchmark set out in Section 9.

Zille described the Amendment Act as draconian and said it fell far short of the required constitutional benchmark.

She said it was "grossly unfair and gave totalitarian powers of social engineering" to Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhosazana Meth, who she said would be able to set rigid national targets for every economic sector, without any regard to the context of specific firms, and impose extremely heavy fines and the risk of criminal conviction for failure to meet them.

Zille said this could no longer be classified as a target, arguing that this amounted to an enabling law for the Minister to set rigid quotas, which she said had previously been found by the courts to be unconstitutional.

She noted that her party supported a redress system that encouraged economic growth, created hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and significantly improved the education and training system.

She pointed out that jobs were created by companies that invested in South Africa, noting that the "draconian labour regime created by the Employment Equity Amendment Act will continue to drive away investment and predictably increase unemployment".

"Companies and potential investors have repeatedly cited these social engineering laws as major barriers to investment and growth. It is completely senseless to knowingly intensify a discriminatory regime that has already failed so spectacularly to empower economically marginalised people. This is what the evidence demonstrates. And that is why we will continue to oppose policies keeping millions of people in poverty," she explained.

Zille argued that should this law be enacted, people belonging to a specific group concentrated in a geographical area, could face exclusion from employment based on national quotas set by the Minister.

Zille said the DA was committed to redress for the millions of South Africans who remained economically excluded owing to the legacy of apartheid.

"We believe the most effective form of redress is a job. The African National Congress's Employment Equity regime continues the bitter legacy of the past because it is one of the key factors driving our country's skyrocketing unemployment rate," she said.

She pointed out that government policy could either encourage real empowerment, or continue to benefit an already empowered elite, increasingly competing over a shrinking number of jobs.

"We have already learnt where that leads, and we cannot allow ourselves to repeat the same mistakes over and over again," she said.

She said racial quotas were dehumanising and unjust, because they reduced people to statistics, ignoring talent and effort.

The DA said it also has a technical challenge to the Employment Amendment Act, which is that it was incorrectly tagged under Section 75 of the Constitution.

"This Act will profoundly affect different provinces and therefore should have been tagged under Section 76 of the Constitution," explained Zille.

SABOTAGE OF TRANSFORMATION GOALS

Meanwhile, Meth said the DA's challenge of the amendments to the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 is a clear attempt to "reverse the progress" made since 1994 and maintain the unfair status quo.

She highlighted that the Amendment Act empowers the Minister of Employment and Labour to set numerical targets for equitable representation of suitably qualified individuals from designated groups at all occupational levels, noting that this is done after consulting relevant sectors and with the advice of the C...

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi said on Friday the reburial of Apartheid-era activists Benjamin Malesella Moloise and Abram Zakhele Mngomezulu marked an important milestone in South Africa's journey towards healing, justice, and reconciliation.

Kubayi will, on Saturday, at the Orlando Communal Hall in Soweto preside over the handover and reburial ceremony of the exhumed remains of the political activists who were hanged on death row.

Spokesperson to the Minister Terrence Manase explained that between 1960 and 1990, at least 130 individuals were executed on death row for politically motivated offences.

Moloise, an African National Congress (ANC) activist, was convicted in 1983 and executed in 1985 for the alleged assassination of a security policeman in 1982. Moloise denied any involvement, claiming his confession was made under duress. The ANC consistently maintained his innocence.

Mngomezulu, also an ANC activist, was executed on May 25, 1989 after being convicted for the 1987 murder of Mandla Khoza during a rent boycott protest in Soweto. He was sentenced to death, while four teenage co-accused received prison terms ranging from eight to fifteen years.

Manase said, at the time, the State withheld their remains, denying families the opportunity to mourn and bury their loved ones.

"…these individuals were interred as paupers in cemeteries around Tshwane, without the knowledge or consent of their families," he said.

He said the upcoming ceremony will formally return the remains to their families, offering "long-overdue closure and recognition of the ultimate sacrifices made in the struggle for freedom".

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development said it was committed to advancing justice, fostering national healing, and preserving the dignity of those who died in the fight against Apartheid.

A gauge of South African manufacturing sentiment dropped sharply in April, with survey respondents citing uncertainty linked to global trade tensions and local politics.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) sponsored by South African bank Absa declined to 44.7 points in April from 48.7 in March.

It was the sixth straight month that the headline PMI has been below 50, reflecting a contraction in activity.

US President Donald Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" tariff announcement ushered in sweeping duties on most imports to the United States, sparking a trade war with China and uncertainty for companies worldwide.

Trump later paused most of the steepest tariffs for 90 days, but economists say many businesses have been left in a state of paralysis.

In South Africa months of wrangling over the budget culminated in the finance minister scrapping a planned increase in value-added tax (VAT), meaning he will have to present a new budget next month.

"Global tariff developments and local political uncertainty because of the VAT saga and open disagreements within the government likely weighed on sentiment," Absa said in a statement.

Other local factors dampening the mood included excessive rains and the return of scheduled power cuts.

On Tuesday, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) began the phased withdrawal of its recruits and equipment from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as part of a directive from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and government.

The SANDF said the Summit, held in March, as well as meetings between SADC Defence Ministers and the Chiefs of Defence Forces (CDFs) of the SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC) Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs), endorsed the SAMIDRC withdrawal plan.

The withdrawal will take place via road, through Rwanda and Tanzania.

Earlier this year, South African opposition parties expressed sadness at the loss of 14 members of the SANDF in the eastern DRC, calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga to account.

The SANDF members were killed during combat and several others were injured, while stationed in the DRC as part of SADC and the UN peacekeeping deployments. They were engaged in intense combat over two days with the M23 rebel group near Goma, the provincial capital of the eastern DRC.

The SANDF explained that a reconnaissance mission, which included representatives from Malawi, South Africa, and Tanzania and the SADC secretariat, was conducted in April, to assess and confirm the withdrawal route from Goma through Rwanda to Chato in Tanzania, towards the respective TCC home countries.

The SANDF said it would provide regular updates to the public regarding the safe return of soldiers to South Africa.

Following allegations of misconduct and financial mismanagement at the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC), the Democratic Alliance (DA) has filed criminal charges against five officials.

Findings from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) show unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in excess of R18.3-million.

The DA has laid charges against former JPC CEO Helen Botes, former JPC CFO Imraan Bhamjee, Supply Chain Management senior manager Fitzgerald Ramaboea, Special Projects GM Gowrie Sunker and Supply Chain Management manager Nandisa Zondo.

It criticised the City of Johannesburg's legal opinion, which it believes sets out to discredit the SIU's findings instead of implementing the recommendations.

The DA wants the courts to enforce accountability, as it warned of possible threats against those taking action against the implicated officials.

"Today, we have submitted a comprehensive dossier of evidence to the South African Police Service - including the SIU proclamation, relevant Council reports, previous SIU findings, correspondence, and the City's commissioned legal opinion. We have formally requested that this matter be escalated to the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority for full investigation. Johannesburg residents deserve to know the full truth, and they deserve real accountability," the party said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is setting up a judicial commission of inquiry to establish whether attempts were made to prevent the investigation or prosecution of apartheid-era crimes, his office said on Wednesday.

The move is the outcome of settlement discussions in a court case brought by families of the victims of political killings and disappearances that happened decades ago, who say post-apartheid governments never properly investigated those crimes.

"Allegations of improper influence in delaying or hindering the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes have persisted from previous administrations," the presidency said in a statement.

"Through this commission, President Ramaphosa is determined that the true facts be established and the matter brought to finality."

After apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to help uncover human rights violations perpetrated under white minority rule.

The TRC handed over a list of several hundred cases to State prosecutors for investigation, but many were never pursued.

The 25 family members and survivors who filed the case in a Pretoria court in January are also seeking about R167-million from the State in damages.

The government will ask for their application to be suspended pending the commission's findings, the presidency said. It did not give a time frame.

The Foundation for Human Rights, an NGO supporting the families, said that they welcomed the establishment of a commission of inquiry but opposed the president's move to delay a ruling on their damages claim.

"Instead of entering into mediation, he has decided to offload the declaration of rights and constitutional damages onto a commission of inquiry, which has no authority to deal with it," it said in a statement.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will re-table the 2025 Budget on May 21, noting that in the meantime funding for provinces and municipalities will continue under the 2024 Division of Revenue Act.

This after he wrote to Speaker of the National Assembly Thoko Didiza informing her that he would be withdrawing the Appropriation and Division of Revenue Bills.

This follows the cancelled VAT increase, with Treasury warning that without it, the estimated revenue will fall short by about R75-billion over the medium term.

In March, Godongwana presented a proposed Budget with a 0.5 percentage point VAT increase in 2025, which led to the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters taking him to court. He presented both parties with out-of-court settlements.

Godongwana said the comprehensive Budget review, scheduled for May 21, would include the Fiscal Framework, the Appropriation Bill, Division of Revenue Bill, and already tabled Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill.

He assured that the revised Budget would adhere to all technical processes and consultations as set out in the Money Bills and Related Matters Act.

"This includes formal consultations with the Financial and Fiscal Commission, thorough consultations with all political parties within the Government of National Unity, as well as Cabinet approval before presentation to Parliament," he explained.

While National Treasury awaits the passing of the 2025 Division of Revenue Act, funding for provinces and municipalities will continue under the 2024 Act, allowing transfers of up to 45% of their allocated funds.

"Until the new Budget is passed, government services will continue to be funded under section 29 of the Public Finance Management Act. This allows spending of up to 45 per cent of last year's budget during the first four months, and up to 10 per cent for each month after that," he explained.

Godongwana said while the Budget postponement was not ideal, the circumstances leading to this decision had highlighted the importance of meaningful engagement on fiscal matters.

He said the situation provided a "valuable opportunity" for citizens, Members of Parliament, labour organisations, and civil society to thoroughly engage with the "complex challenge" of achieving fiscal sustainability while promoting economic growth and protecting essential public services with very limited resources.

He said the National Treasury had already begun work on developing a new fiscal framework that would maintain the country's trajectory toward debt stabilisation, a crucial element in strengthening public finances.

This included revising economic assumptions using the latest available data and generating an updated fiscal project.

Treasury will also recalculate revenue projections and tax implications, determine appropriate borrowing strategies and consolidate these elements into a coherent and sustainable fiscal framework.